The news that the BT Tower, one of the most beloved, historic and globally recognized features of London’s skyline, has been acquired by an American company appears to have been received relatively quietly.
We’ve become so used to selling our capital’s landmarks to foreign companies that we can’t be bothered to buy what was once Britain’s tallest and certainly the most attractive building to a hotel developer for £275 million. Is it gone?
Gherkin is owned by a Brazilian company. Qatar owns The Shard and Canary Wharf. Battersea Power Station is in Malaysian hands. The iconic Lloyd’s Building in London is under Chinese ownership. Also, converting historical buildings into hotels, such as the former American Embassy or the former War Department (now owned by an Indian company), is a popular direction.
Before our eyes, London was sold for pounds to foreign investors who took advantage of cheap money, favorable taxation, and all the attractions that a recognized capital of the world has to offer.
Does this matter? We’ve had to accept that our utilities and transportation networks (and even our media) will fall into foreign hands, so why worry about inanimate objects, mere bricks and mortar? Is there one? That may be true, but even if we don’t have a romantic attachment to the mostly nondescript skyscrapers in Canary Wharf or the City’s Square Mile, the BT Tower is something entirely different. And we should care.
The Post Office Tower, as it was then called, opened to the public in May 1966, when the Beatles released it at the beginning of the summer when England won the World Cup. revolver album, and time The magazine coined the phrase “Swinging London”. It was a time of cultural change and scientific discovery, when humanity was about to send a man to the moon, and nothing symbolized the time more than this glorious space-age structure. This glorious space-age structure rises majestically from an anonymous, low-rise street. Fitzrovia dominates the capital’s skyline.
Since then, the building has stood as a 620-foot monument to futuristic thinking and architectural ambition, a symbol of an era when advances in communication transformed human relationships, and a key part of the capital’s identity for 58 years. It has been.
And not only was it a fine example of form and function, it also relayed telecommunications signals from London to other parts of the country. The 34th floor was also home to Britain’s first revolving restaurant.
Dining at the top of the tower was a thrilling experience, even for the most tired of palates. Drinking a prawn cocktail overlooking the green spaces of Hampstead Heath. filet mignon The South Downs will surround you, so to speak. The restaurant rotated every 23 minutes, but as a dining venue he stopped rotating in 1981.
The tower was forced to close to the public in 1971 after an IRA bomb was planted on the 33rd floor, but the American hotel company MCR, which bought the tower, has ruled out the possibility of the elevated kitchen being ignited again. do not have. An infinity pool has also been added to the rooftop.
Prominent British architect Thomas Heatherwick, who designed the Routemaster bus, another London landmark, is consulting on the project, and he is believed to be true to the tower’s cultural heritage.
In any case, although the building is protected as a Grade II listed building, the sale of our precious and culturally significant asset to a company with no stake in London would be a xenophobic move. There is no need to evoke outrage. The truth is, where we make our money doesn’t make us richer as a country.
Some have welcomed the sale of the BT Tower, suggesting its development as a hotel could give it a new purpose. But for the better part of 60 years, the plan already had a purpose. It’s about reminding us that with imagination and ambition, anything is possible. And remember when we were trying to expand our horizons, cross borders, go faster, farther, higher. When our achievements are measured in feet and inches. It’s not just pounds and pence.