Television House
 | This article includes a list of generalreferences,butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations.(September 2021) |
| Television House | |
|---|---|
 The building in 2013 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Edwardian |
| Town or city | London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′48″N0°07′02″W/ 51.513393°N 0.117279°W |
| Technical details | |
| Size | 9 storeys, 180,000 sq ft (16,722.5 m2) floor space |
Television Houseis the former name of a building onKingswayinLondon.From 1918, it was the base of theAir Ministry.From 1955, the building was the headquarters ofAssociated-Rediffusion/Rediffusion London,Independent Television News(ITN),TV Timesmagazine, theIndependent Television Companies Associationand, at first,Associated Television.Later, it was the initial base for Rediffusion's successor,Thames Television.After Thames moved out, it was the headquarters of theGeneral Register Office for England and Walesand subsequently ofExxonMobil.It is now known as61 Aldwych.
History
[edit]Adastral House
[edit]The Kingsway area had been redeveloped at the start of the 20th century fromslumsandtenementhousing into a broad avenue with grand office buildings and expensive townhouses.
After the formation of theAir Ministryin 1918, its headquarters was on Kingsway; one of two identical buildings oppositeBush Housebecame Adastral House, the name being derived from theRAF motto.This remained the home of the Air Ministry throughWorld War II,and the roof of the building in 1940 duringThe Blitzis where, while fire-watching,Arthur Harris,made the remark about the bombing to a companion, "Well, they are sowing the wind...".The building became known to the public after the war as it was announced duringBBCweather forecasts that theMet Officehad measured the temperatures and wind speeds in central London from its roof.
During WWII, a Jamaican teenager calledBilly Strachansold all of his possessions and travelled all the way from the Caribbean to Adastral House, incorrectly believing that this was where he should go to join the Royal Air Force (RAF).[1]When he arrived he was racially abused by the guards, before being rescued by sergeant who gave Strachan correct instructions on how to join the RAF.[2][3]Strachan then went onto become an accomplished bomber pilot and a pioneer of black civil rights in Britain.
Television House
[edit]In 1954, theIndependent Television Authority(ITA) awarded the first two contracts for the imminentITVcommercial television network. Because the BBC had previously held a monopoly on broadcasting, there were no non-BBC television studio facilities in the UK. Associated-Rediffusion, as one of the two contractors, needed to build from scratch a whole new facility. The company had hiredThomas Brownriggas General Manager, partially due to his extensive knowledge of planning and project management, which would be needed in simultaneously building a new company and its studios and headquarters.
British Electric Traction,the majority owner of Associated-Rediffusion, bought the freehold on Adastral House from the government. Brownrigg engaged Bovis Limited (laterBovis Construction) to gut the building internally and build a new suite of offices, technical facilities, and studios to be called Television House. This was begun in early 1955 and, with a planned start date for ITV of 22 September 1955, was worked on at great speed, virtually 24 hours a day.
Four small studios (numbered 7, 8, 9, and 10) were built inside the building, mainly for current affairs and continuity use (the main large studios, later theFountain Studios,were based at the former20th Century Foxstudios inWembleyinMiddlesex). Additionally, office space and dining facilities for over 1,000 people were created. A suite of management offices, replete with an oak-paneled boardroom, was built.
The original headquarters and studio facilities ofITNwere located on the seventh and eighth floors of the building.
TV Times,part-owned by Associated-Rediffusion, occupied offices in the building from 1957 until April 1958.
A computer room, housing an earlymainframe computerthat controlled advertising bookings, was added on the second floor in 1966.
Associated TeleVision(ATV) inhabited Television House for the first few years of broadcasting, mainly as office accommodation rather than studio facilities. For a period early in ITV's history, Associated-Rediffusion provided this space for free as part of the effort to keep ITV afloat during the financial crisis of 1955-1957.
St Catherine's House
[edit]In the 1967 ITV contract round, the ITA awarded the London weekday contract to a joint company formed fromABC Weekend TVand Rediffusion Television,Thames Television.This new company had a surplus number of studios in London. The Wembley studios were therefore sold to the then-newLondon Weekend Television.Thames, controlled by the former ABC, decided that a brand new studio complex, equipped from the start for colour broadcasting and located out of the center of London would be more appropriate.
Thames used Television House as its headquarters whilst the building of the new Thames Television House inEustontook place.
When Television House was vacated in 1970, the building was again occupied by the government, this time by theGeneral Register Office for England and Wales(previously based inSomerset House). It was renamed St Catherine's House, and was used to house the birth, marriage and death certificates of theEnglishandWelshpopulations. In 1997, the building was vacated by the General Register Office (now theOffice of Population Censuses and Surveys), which moved toSouthportinMerseyside.
After extensive refurbishment, the building became the UK headquarters ofExxonMobil.
Centrium
[edit]After ExxonMobil left, the building was renamed "The Centrium" and housed several organisations, includingHerman Miller,theNursing and Midwifery Council,SVG Capital,Takeda Pharmaceuticals,Ashmore Group,Tishman SpeyerandInterconnector UK
61 Aldwych
[edit]The building was subsequently renamed "61 Aldwych" by managerTishman Speyer.[4]The building's management was later transferred to BH2 andCushman & Wakefield.[5]
Production space
[edit]- Studio 7: 702 sq ft (65.2 m2). 33' by 24' = 10 m x 7.3 m
- Studio 8: 950 sq ft (88 m2). 38' by 25' = 11.6 m x 7.6 m
- Studio 9: 2,416 sq ft (224.5 m2). 64' by 40' = 19.5 m x 12.2 m
- Studio 10: 312 sq ft (29.0 m2). 26' by 12' = 8 m x 3.7 m
- Master Control: 900 sq ft (84 m2).
- Maintenance Workshop: 1,150 sq ft (107 m2).
- VTR (with 2xAmpexvideo recorders): 320 sq ft (30 m2).
- Telecine (with 2x Cintel, 1x RCA Vidicon and 2x EMI Flying Spot telecine machines): 1,150 sq ft (107 m2).
- Rehearsal rooms x6: 7,500 sq ft (700 m2).
- Projector theatres x 6
- Cutting rooms x15
- Dubbing theatre
References
[edit]- Croston, EricITV 1963London: Independent Television Authority 1963
- Various authorsA Guide to Rediffusion Television StudiosLondon: Rediffusion Television Ltd April 1967
- Elliott, Ronald (Ed.)Fusion: Associated-Rediffusion's House Magazinenumber 19, June 1961
- Graham, Russ JLondon Callingundated, accessed 21 February 2006
- Centrium,accessed 7 February 2008
- ^Horsley, David (2019).Billy Strachan 1921-1988 RAF Officer, Communist, Civil Rights Pioneer, Legal Administrator, Internationalist and Above All Caribbean Man.London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity. p. 8.ISSN2055-7035.
- ^Dewjee, Audrey."West Indian RAF Aircrew: In East Yorkshire During WWII".African Stories in Hull and East Yorkshire.Retrieved11 May2021.
- ^Horsley, David (2019).Billy Strachan 1921-1988 RAF Officer, Communist, Civil Rights Pioneer, Legal Administrator, Internationalist and Above All Caribbean Man.London: Caribbean Labour Solidarity. p. 9.ISSN2055-7035.
- ^"61 Aldwych".Archived from the original on 22 April 2014.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^"61 Aldwych | London".Retrieved13 June2023.
External links
[edit]- BFI Screen Online
- TV Studio History website
- Television Houseat This is Rediffusion