Bush House 

Celebrating its 100th anniversary this month, Bush House at the Aldwych (you can’t miss it if you’re on the 91 bus to Trafalgar Square!) will forever be associated with the BBC. Although their entire operation has now moved to Broadcasting House in Portland Place, this vast edifice was for many years the home of our national broadcaster. Attending a conference there last weekend gave me the opportunity to have a nosey round and take a few snaps… 

Bush House, Aldwych

  Bush House was designed in 1923 by the architect         Harvey Corbett for an Anglo-American trading       company and was opened by Lord Balfour on             American Independence Day - 4th July 1925. Later            additions were made to the structure in 1928 and 1935.    It cost around two million pounds to construct –
  making it the most expensive building in the world at t    that time - and was named after the American financier    behind the project, Irving T. Bush (below). 

Following an international trade slump and the retreat of businesses from the capital due to WW2, Bush House found itself looking for tenants, and in 1929 the BBC took up residence. 

Made of Portland stone, this monumental building is essentially a cluster of office blocks occupying a dramatic position at the bottom of Kingsway. Its stunning portico features two male statues representing Anglo-American friendship. Beneath these figures is the inscription: TO THE FRIENDSHIP OF
ENGLISH-SPEAKING PEOPLES. 

Early construction before statues installed

The building has an impressively grand interior with attractive art deco light fittings and bronze private posting boxes. 

Bush House is famous for having been the place where Charles de Gaulle made his wartime broadcasts to the Free French and George Orwell (who hated both the building and his job!) was employed by the Eastern Service during WW2. It is thought that the canteen featured in his Ministry of Truth in the book 1984, was based on the one at Bush House. His role also involved lengthy meetings in the building and his infamous Room 101 is also thought to relate to a room there. 

Former Central Newsroom

The BBC (and the World Service, which was headquartered there for 70 years from 1941) both moved out of the building in 2012. 

Having been originally conceived as a luxury trade centre, Bush House was never been intended for use as a centre for broadcasting and over time became increasingly expensive to maintain. 

South Wing entrance

 Now Grade II-listed, the building is currently occupied by King’s College’s Strand Campus. 

References: https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/buildings/bush-house