Building in the City of London
125 London Wall
, also known as
Alban Gate
, is a
postmodernist
building on
London Wall
in the
City of London
. Along with
Embankment Place
and Vauxhall Cross (the
SIS Building
), it has been described as one of the three projects that established designer Sir
Terry Farrell
's reputation in the late 1980s-to-early 1990s period.
[1]
In 2004, writer
Deyan Sudjic
described it as "postmodernism at its most exuberant", placing it at number 5 in a list of Ten Triumphs of recent UK architecture.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
The district was once the northeast corner of the Roman settlement
Londonium
. Though one of the oldest settled parts of the city, the area was completely devastated during
The Blitz
. It was redeveloped in the postwar decades according to modernist planning principles centred on the
automobile
.
London Wall
became an "unpleasant 1960s dual carriageway", a "mini-motorway which acted as divisively upon its surroundings as the old wall had".
[3]
The sites surrounding the roadway were developed under high-rise schemes including the
Barbican Estate
to the north. The site beside the road upon which Alban Gate was built was originally home to Lee House, a modernist office complex. In 1986, spurred by Margaret Thatcher's "
Big Bang
" deregulation of financial markets and the need for more large-floorplate modern office space, planning permission was granted for the demolition of Lee House.
[5]
Design
[
edit
]
Construction of the complex began in 1990, and was completed in 1992 with 18 floors and a maximum height of 82 m (270 ft).
[6]
Architects
Terry Farrell and Partners
sought to bridge the urban barrier of London Wall by utilising the air rights over the roadway. The complex is composed of two twin towers, set at a 90-degree angle to each other, with one straddling London Wall itself and offering pedestrian passage via an arcade housing shops and restaurants suspended over the road.
The other tower sits on a heavily modelled podium meant to repair the urban fabric, countering the "agoraphobia" and poor pedestrian circulation of the earlier 1960s modernist schemes.
The tower plinth and adjacent low romanesque block relate to the scale of surrounding buildings as well as shielding Monkwell Square, which had become a "service yard", from the motorway. Monkwell Square was redesigned and landscaped.
Though the towers are visually distinct, their floorplates are actually connected and share a central service core. The 18th floor of one tower houses a special meeting suite.
Tenants
[
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]
The building is well known as the former UK headquarters of
JPMorgan Chase
, one of the world's leading investment banks.
[9]
Nabarro LLP
leased 138,000 sq ft (12,800 m
2
) in 2012.
[10]
Most of the building now holds
Lloyds Banking Group
offices.
Ownership
[
edit
]
In 2000,
MEPC plc
sold the building for around
£
160 million.
[11]
In July 2010, it was part of a group of six landmark London properties sold to
the Carlyle Group
for £671 million following the
default
of
Simon Halabi
's property companies.
[12]
In 2014, the building was purchased by
Blackstone
for £300 million.
[13]
Notes
[
edit
]
- Bibliography
- Davies, Emma, ed. (2013).
Collage and Context
. London: Laurence King.
ISBN
9781780672755
.