It had been designed by John Belcher in 1870.Īn office building and public plaza by Mies van der Rohe was pencilled for the site in 1969, to be Mansion House Square. The Mappin & Webb building in 1993, which was demolished to make way for No 1 PoultryĪs to the apex facing Mansion House, a Conservation Area, to rebuild drew much opposition particularly as standing there, in repairable condition, was a 19th-century neo-gothic listed building occupied by crown jewellers Mappin and Webb. The chief proponent was the Twentieth Century Society to block a planned redesign of the structure thus the main opponent was the landowner. Amongst the readers of Time Out magazine, it was voted fifth-worst in London.įollowing application generally supported by neighbours, users and experts, the building was protected and recognised by law as Grade II*-listed on 29 November 2016. The turret above is sometimes likened to a submarine conning tower while the glazed thus two-sided clock is in concept and detail that of the Art Deco era Palazzo delle Poste, Naples.Ĭompleted nearly two decades after the first designs were published, the building saw a range of muted and divided views from leading critics as the heyday of postmodernism was over. Intended as site owner Palumbo's private entrance, this space is now little used: Palumbo sold the development before its completion. For example, from the sharp apex of the site a keyhole-shaped opening leads to a little-seen Scala Regia with a ramped floor, gold-leafed terminus and ancient Egyptian aura takes visitors into the heart of the building. Like many notable postmodern buildings, the imagery is rich in references. It is clad in pink and yellow limestone in even stripes (and apex arch stones, that is voussoirs) whilst the courtyard, an atrium, displays some of Stirling's characteristic acidulous colour play. It is a postmodern structure, with use of bold, perhaps unsubtle, forms and colours in a compact assembly. The present building was completed in 1997, five years after architect Stirling's death and three years after construction began. The rooftop restaurant was used for the apparent Queen's helicopter departure point in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. Building users, experts and neighbours persuaded the experts at the designated UK body to protect and recognise the building and did so in the notable grade II* listed building category, making it, within England, the youngest at the time. In 2016, the landowner proposed exterior alteration. The point of the apex, as before, has a clock face but higher, as above a large pointed apex set of 30 window panes. The tall but less towering design, in a postmodernist style with an outer shell of even bands of rose-pink and muted yellow stone, prevailed. Another option was a modernist minor skyscraper designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the manner of the Seagram Building in New York City – but dropped having failed in an influential architectural and planning show-down in the 1970s. It replaced a neogothic, conical-turreted, predecessor retail building, owned by developer Rudolph Palumbo and subsequently by his son, developer Peter Palumbo. The design, by James Stirling, was constructed after the architect's death. It occupies the apex where the eastern ends of Poultry and Queen Victoria Street meet at Mansion House Street, the western approach to Bank junction. No 1 Poultry is a building in the City of London, allocated to office and commercial use. No 1 Poultry, pictured from Mansion House Street
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