Broadcasting House

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For other uses, see Broadcasting House (disambiguation)}}}.

Broadcasting House

Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC in London. Situated in Portland Place, it is normally home to Radio 2, 3, 4, 6 Music and BBC 7. Architect G Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBC's civil engineer, M T Tudsbery. Broadcasting House was officially opened on May 14 1932 and is now Grade II* listed.

A modern mind can't fully comprehend how miraculous and transformative Radio was in the early 20th century. The architecture of Broadcasting House reflects those intense early attitudes about Radio, Progress and Science.

As you walk up Regent Street towards the bend where Regent Street joins Portland Place you see, directly ahead, the distinctive semi-circular portico and gothic spire of All Souls Church, Langham Place, erected in 1824. Continue around the bend and suddenly, beyond All Souls', the distinctive semi-circular facade and stylized radio tower of Broadcasting House rise like a temple of Progress above the busy street, echoing All Souls and declaring the start of a new enlightened age.

At the front of the building are statues of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's The Tempest) by Eric Gill. Their choice was fitting since Prospero was a magician, and Ariel, a spirit of the air, in which radio waves travel. There was reportedly some controversy over some features of the statues when first built and they were said to have been subsequently modified. They were reported to have been sculpted by Gill as God and Man, rather than simply Prospero and Ariel, and that there is a small carved picture of a beautiful girl on the back part of Prospero's statue. Other sources claim that Gill intended them as God the Father and Son, as supported by the fact that the statue of Ariel has stigmata. Additional carvings of Ariel can be found on the building's exterior in many Bas-reliefs. See [link] and [link]. This was also discussed on the BBC Radio 4 programme, The Archive Hour, 18 March 2006, entitled "The Home of Radio". [link]

Broadcasting House was the home of the BBC Radio Theatre, where music and speech programmes (typically comedy for BBC Radio 4) were recorded in front of a studio audience.

Broadcasting House is currently undergoing renovation, scheduled for completion in 2009/2010. As part of a major reorganisation of BBC property, Broadcasting House is to become home to BBC News (both television and radio), national radio, and the BBC World Service. The major part of this plan involves the demolition of the two post-war extensions to the building and construction of a new building, to be equal in "architectural creativity", beside the existing structure. The design of the new extension is by London practice MacCormac Jamieson Prichard. While the rebuilding process is being undertaken many of the BBC Radio networks have been relocated to other buildings in the vicinity of Portland Place. Completion of the project will see BBC News relocating from the News Centre at BBC Television Centre to the new building.

BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music in 2005 and 2006 have moved their studios from Broadcasting House to newly built studios in the adjacent Western House. See BBC Radio 2 website article [link]

Queen Elizabeth II visted Broadcasting House on 20th April 2006 as part of her Birthday celebrations and to officially open the redeveloped Broadcasting House

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