Lloyds Building |
| Hob Uid: 1372221 | |
Location :
Greater London Authority
City and County of the City of London
Non Civil Parish
|
| Grid Ref : TQ3315981082 |
| Summary : The Lloyd's Building is an office and insurance market for the major insurance firm Lloyd's of London. It was designed from 1978 by Richard Rogers Partnership and construction began in 1981 by engineers Ove Arup and Partners. It opened in 1986 and replaced an earlier Lloyd's premises built in 1928.The building comprises a rectangular block of offices, 67 metres by 45.5 metres, with walkways linking the building to the pavement. At the core of the building is a rectangular, concrete framed structure with cylindrical piers forming a courtyard and atrium. The atrium has a latticed steel and glass barrel-vaulted roof. Six steel service towers containing staircases, lifts, pipes and ducts are fixed externally to the main office block. Four of the towers are topped by three-tier plant rooms. The building is clad in steel with a fine textured finish.The building is of 16 storeys with a further two floors below ground. The main interior space is organised around the central, galleried atrium. On gallery 11 is the Great Room from Bowood House. It was designed in 1763 by Robert Adam and used from the late 1770s as the principle drawing room at Bowood House. The room was acquired at auction and installed in 1957 as a committee room and was reconstructed in the current building in 1983. The classical façade of the original Lloyd's premises designed by Sir Edwin Cooper in 1925-28 is now part of the entrance to Tower 5. |
More information : The Lloyds building was built in 1978-86, it was designed by the Richard Rodgers Partnership and the engineers were Ove Arup and Partners. The heart of the building is a rectangular block of offices measuring 220ft by 150ft, this is half hidden by six stacks of services, of varying heights, coming out at irregular points up to the street line. The services are not enclosed as the building was designed so that they could be easily repaired and updated when necesarry, based on the principle that the services will need to be replaced faster than the frame of the building. The building has a steel frame with a glass curtain wall. (1)
Listed. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (2-3) |