Bush House is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

at the southern end of Kingsway between

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts Points of the compass, east-northeast of Charing Cros ...

and the Strand in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist

Irving T. Bush Irving Ter Bush (July 12, 1869 – October 21, 1948) was an American businessman. He was the son of the wealthy industrialist, oil refinery owner, and yachtsman Rufus T. Bush. As founder of the Bush Terminal Company, Bush was responsible for t ...

, and commissioned, designed, funded, and constructed under his direction. The design was approved in 1919, work began in 1925, and was completed in 1935. Erected in stages, by 1929 Bush House was already declared the "most expensive building in the world".BBC Buildings: Bush House
. BBC. (1 January 1970). Now mainly part of the

Strand Campus The Strand Campus is the founding campus of King's College London and is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, sharing its frontage along the River Thames. The original campus comprises the Grade I listed King's Building of 1831 ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, Bush House previously served as the headquarters of the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. Broadcasting from Bush House lasted for 70 years, from winter 1941 to summer 2012. The final BBC broadcast from Bush House was the 12noon BST news bulletin on 12 July 2012. The BBC World Service is now housed in

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...

Portland Place Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London. Named after the Third Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to BBC Broadcasting House, the Chinese and Polish embassies, the Royal Institute of British A ...

has taken over the premises since acquiring the lease in 2015. The longtime occupation of part of Bush House by

HM Revenue and Customs HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...

(and its predecessor department the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

) ended in March 2021 when it vacated the South-West Wing. This wing will also become a part of King's College London's Strand Campus, ensuring all wings of the building are now occupied by the University.

History

The building was commissioned, designed and originally owned by American individuals and companies.

gained approval for his plans for the building in 1919, which was conceived as a major new trade centre and designed by American architect

Harvey Wiley Corbett Harvey Wiley Corbett (January 8, 1873 – April 21, 1954) was an American architect primarily known for skyscraper and office building designs in New York and London, and his advocacy of tall buildings and modernism in architecture. Early life ...

. The construction was undertaken by John Mowlem & Co. Sections of Bush House were completed and opened over a period of 10 years: Centre Block was opened in 1925, North-West Wing in 1928, North-East Wing in 1929, South-East Wing in 1930, and South-West Wing in 1935. The full building complex was completed in 1935. The building's opening ceremony was performed by Lord Balfour,

Lord President of the Council The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the ...

, on 4 July 1925. It included the unveiling of two statues at the entrance made by American artist

Malvina Hoffman Malvina Cornell Hoffman (June 15, 1885July 10, 1966) was an American sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people. She also worked in plaster and marble. Hoffman created portrait busts of working-class people and ...

. The statues symbolise Anglo-American friendship and the building bears the inscription "To the friendship of English speaking peoples". Built from

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

, Bush House was in 1929 declared the "most expensive building in the world".

Headquarters of the BBC World Service

The BBC European Service moved into the South-East Wing of Bush House after bombs damaged

on 8 December 1940 during

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. The move was completed in 1941 and the

BBC Overseas Service #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

followed in 1958. The BBC World Service occupied four wings of the building. In 1944 Bush House suffered external damage from a

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

. The North-West Wing was formerly occupied by

BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

until they relocated to the

BBC Media Village White City Place is the name given to the collection of buildings formerly known as BBC Media Village (more commonly simply as White City or W12 within the BBC). White City Place is a collection of six buildings occupying a 17-acre site off Wo ...

in 2005, with some studio and office space being retained until 2008. The BBC also moved its World Service to

. The final broadcast from Bush was on 12 July 2012. Bulletins now come from Broadcasting House. The BBC's lease expired at the end of 2012.

King's College London campus

A full refurbishment of Bush House and its adjoining wings was undertaken by

John Robertson Architects John Robertson Architects (JRA) is an architectural practice based in Bankside, London, which was founded by its Director John Robertson in 1993. The practice concentrates on the design and implementation of new build, retrofit, historic refurbis ...

following the BBC's vacation. Bush House, along with North-East Wing, North-West Wing, South-East Wing and Melbourne House were stripped back to CAT A and fully modernised whilst retaining original period features. The intended use was open plan offices with reception spaces for each of the buildings given an individual identity. The courtyard was to remain as a car park/delivery point. Completion of this work transpired in June 2014 as part of the much-marketed Aldwych Quarter. On 10 March 2015,

announced it had acquired a 50-year lease for the Aldwych Quarter. as a substantial part of its expansion of its Strand Campus

undertook the interior fit-out to convert Aldwych Quarter into a fully operational, modern university campus, including installation of a 400 seat auditorium, lecture theatres, seminar rooms, academic offices and a health centre. The courtyard has been converted from car parking to semi-public realm and features a new glass pavilion offering access to the Students' Union and undercroft joining the building's wings together. Since its foundation on 1 August 2017, the King's Business School has been located inside Bush House. It came forth from the ''School of Management and Business'' to form the 9th faculty of the university. To ‘support world class education and research with environments which foster creativity and engagement.’ the central block hosts ''The Department of Informatics'' which brings together innovators from the business and technology worlds. King's College London Students' Union (KCLSU) also occupies Bush House. Its Union Shop opened in The Arcade in September 2017, followed by a series of other student spaces in Spring 2018. KCLSU represents all students at King's, but operates as a charity, independent of the university. File:Staircase Bush House (8013461566).jpg, A stairway in Bush House File:Detail of Bush House, Aldwych (geograph 4238551).jpg, Detail of the

exedra An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...

File:English_speaking_peoples.jpg, To the Friendship of English speaking peoples monument

References

External links

"World Service staff bid farewell to iconic Bush House"
World Radio and TV, BBC News.
An album of technical photos of the BBC at Bush House, 1961–2005
{{Navboxes, list1= {{King's College London {{BBC {{BBC Television {{BBC World Service BBC offices, studios and buildings Cultural and educational buildings in London Office buildings in London Local mass media in London Commercial buildings completed in 1925 Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster Aldwych King's College London

Bush House Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, funded, a ...

History

Headquarters of the BBC World Service

King's College London campus

See also

References

External links