54 Broadway

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54 Broadway
Broadway Buildings, London.jpg
Broadway Buildings
54 Broadway
General information
Location Westminster, London
Coordinates 51°30′00″N0°08′00″W / 51.49989°N 0.13347°W / 51.49989; -0.13347
Completed1924
Technical details
Floor count9

54 Broadway, sometimes known as Broadway Buildings (now renumbered 50 Broadway), is an office building in Broadway, London.

Contents

History

The building, which has a prominent mansard roof, was completed around 1924, when it became the main operating base for the Secret Intelligence Service. [1] [a] In 1925, the Government Code and Cypher School co-located within the building, although it was on a different floor to the Secret Intelligence Service. [2] [b] GC&CS moved out to Bletchley Park in August 1939. [3]

During the Second World War it had a brass plaque identifying it as the offices of the "Minimax Fire Extinguisher Company". [1] Sir Stewart Menzies, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, had access to a tunnel, which connected 54 Broadway to his private residence in Queen Anne's Gate. [4] Kim Philby, who worked in the building during the war, described it as, "a dingy building, a warren of wooden partitions and frosted glass windows...served by an ancient lift." [5]

The Secret Intelligence Service moved out to Century House in 1964. [6] During the 1990s, the building was used by the project team for the Jubilee Line Extension to the London Underground. [7]

Notes

  1. ↑ SIS had previously been based at 2 Whitehall Court.
  2. ↑ GC&CS had previously been based at Watergate House, York Buildings, Adelphi.

References

  1. 1 2 Berkeley, Roy (1994). A Spy's London. London: Leo Cooper. pp. 7–8. ISBN   9781473827202. OCLC   973676356.
  2. ↑ Johnson, J. (1997). The Evolution of British Sigint 1653–1939. Cheltenham: HMSO. p. 44.
  3. ↑ Smith, Michael (2001) [1999]. "An Undervalued Effort: how the British broke Japan's Codes". In Smith, Michael; Erskine, Ralph (eds.). Action this Day. London: Bantam. pp. 2–3. ISBN   978-0-593-04910-5.
  4. ↑ Judd, Alan (24 September 2000). "One in the Eye for the Vauxhall Trollop". The Daily Telegraph . London. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  5. ↑ Philby, Kim (2003) [1968]. My Silent War. London: Modern Library. p. 64. ISBN   9780375759833. OCLC   892590995.
  6. ↑ "Top Secret: A Century of British Espionage" . The Independent . London. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  7. ↑ Mitchell, Bob (2003). Jubilee Line Extension From Concept to Completion. Thomas Telford. p. 12. ISBN   978-0727730282.
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