Tower 42
Information
Location	25 Old Broad Street, London, United Kingdom
Status	Complete
Constructed	1971-1979
Use	Commercial
Height
Roof	183 metres (600 ft)
Floor count	42
Companies
Architect	Richard Seifert

Tower 42 from directly below

Tower 42 is the tallest skyscraper in the City of London and the fifth tallest in London as a whole. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) Richard Seifert ( 25 November 1910 &ndash 26 October 2001) was a British architect best known for designing the Centrepoint A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable Building. There is no official definition or a precise cutoff height above which a building may clearly be classified as a skyscraper For London as a whole see the main article London. The City of London is a geographically This list of the tallest buildings and structures in London ranks Skyscrapers and Towers in the city of London, United Kingdom by height It was originally built for the National Westminster Bank (NatWest), hence its former name, the NatWest Tower. National Westminster Bank Plc, or NatWest as it is commonly known is a Commercial bank in the United Kingdom which has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Seen from above,^[1] the tower closely resembles the NatWest logo (three chevrons in a hexagonal arrangement). The tower, designed by Richard Seifert, is located at 25 Old Broad Street. Richard Seifert ( 25 November 1910 &ndash 26 October 2001) was a British architect best known for designing the Centrepoint It was built by John Mowlem & Co^[2] between 1971 and 1979, and opened in 1980, costing a total of £72 million. Mowlem was founded in 1822 and grew to be one of the largest construction and civil engineering companies in the United Kingdom.

It is 183 metres (600 ft) high, which made it the tallest building in the UK until the topping-out of One Canada Square in Docklands in 1990. One Canada Square (also known as the Canary Wharf Tower) is a Skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. Docklands is the semi-official name for an area in the east of London, England, comprising parts of several boroughs ( Southwark, Tower Hamlets

Construction and history

NatWest Tower under construction 1972. Broad Street railway station is in the foreground

Its status as the first skyscraper in the City was a coup for the NatWest, but was extremely controversial at the time, as it was a major departure from the previous restrictions on tall buildings in London. This article is about the closed railway station in London For other stations of the same name see Broad Street Station. The building is constructed around a huge concrete core from which the floors are cantilevered, giving it great strength but significantly limiting the amount of office space available. A cantilever is a beam supported on only one end The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and Shear stress. On opening, this was not a consideration — but following the Big Bang in the City, the nature of bank trading changed and the tower's design became somewhat obsolescent given its lack of large trading floors. The phrase Big Bang, used in reference to the sudden deregulation of financial markets was coined to describe measures including the abolition of the distinction between Stockjobbers The cantilever is constructed to take advantage of the air rights granted to it and the neighbouring site whilst respecting the banking hall on that adjacent site, as only one building was allowed to be developed. For a time it was the tallest cantilever in the world.

On 24 April 1993 it was damaged in the Bishopsgate bombing, a Provisional Irish Republican Army truck bombing in the Bishopsgate area of the City of London. Events 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) The Bishopsgate bombing occurred on 24 April 1993 when the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA detonated a Truck bomb in London's financial district The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Óglaigh na hÉireann ( IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the See Bishopsgate Insurance for the Australian insurance company bankrupted in 1982 The bomb extensively damaged the tower and many other buildings in the vicinity, causing over £1 billion worth of damage. ^[3] The tower suffered severe damage and had to be entirely reclad and internally refurbished (demolition was considered, but would have been too difficult and expensive). ^[4] After refurbishment, NatWest decided not to re-occupy and renamed the building the International Financial Centre, then sold it. The new owners, small UK property company Greycoat, renamed it Tower 42, in reference to its 42 floors. It is now a general-purpose office building occupied by a variety of companies.

In 2004, the City gained its second major skyscraper in the form of 30 St Mary Axe, more popularly known as the Gherkin. 30 St Mary Axe is a Skyscraper in London 's main financial district the City of London. Its construction radically altered the London skyline. A whole cluster of additional skyscrapers are now planned for the area including the Bishopsgate Tower, which will be over 100 metres taller. The Bishopsgate Tower, also known as The Pinnacle or The Helter-Skelter, is a 288-metre (945 ft 63-storey Skyscraper currently under construction in the

In October 2007, a reported sale by Hermes Property Asset Management, which own a 49% stake in the £400m building, was planned. It is understood to be preparing to put it on sale on November 5 through Jones Lang LaSalle. Jones Lang LaSalle ( is a financial and professional services firm speciaizing in real estate and is headquartered in the Aon Center in Chicago Illinois.

General information

Tower 42 viewed from street level.

• Tower 42 was the tallest building in London and the United Kingdom for 10 years. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located At its completion in 1980, it claimed this title from the BT Tower (175 m / 574 ft), a transmission tower located at 60 Cleveland Street in Fitzrovia, London. The BT Tower is a tall cylindrical building in London, England.

• Tower 42 contains two restaurants: Rhodes Twenty Four, which are situated on the 24th floor and operated by renowned chef Gary Rhodes; and Vertigo 42, a champagne and seafood bar located on the 42nd floor. Gary Rhodes OBE (born April 22, 1960) is an English restaurateur cookery writer, and Celebrity chef, known for his

• The tower is shown in the sequences leading up to the destruction of the earth in the television series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy leading to unfounded speculation that the name links to The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams 's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January The Answer to Life the Universe and Everything is numeric in Douglas Adams ' series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

• The fourth Top Gear race ended at Vertigo 42, with Jeremy Clarkson at least appearing to just beat Richard Hammond and James May. Top Gear is a BAFTA, multi- NTA and International Emmy Award -winning BBC Television series about motor vehicles mainly Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960 is an English broadcaster Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969 nicknamed " Hamster " is a British Presenter of Radio and Television, James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963 is a British Television presenter and award-winning Journalist. Clarkson took a Bugatti Veyron and May a private Cessna 182 from Alba, near Turin. The Bugatti Veyron 164 is a mid-engine Sports car produced by Volkswagen Group subsidiary Bugatti Automobiles SAS introduced in 2005 WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Alba is the Scottish Gaelic name (ˈalˠ̪əpə for Scotland.

Previous buildings on the site

• Gresham House, built in 1563 by Sir Thomas Gresham. Sir Thomas Gresham (c 1519 &ndash 21 November, 1579) was an English Merchant and Financier who worked for King Edward VI of England Gresham was a businessman who helped set up the Royal Stock Exchange. Upon the death of his wife in 1596, Gresham House became the 'Institute for Physic, Civil Law, Music, Astronomy, Geometry and Rhetoric', as directed by Gresham's will (Sir Thomas died 17 years earlier). Students at Gresham College, described as the Third University of England by Chief Justice Coke in 1612, included Robert Hooke, Sir Christopher Wren and the composer John Bull. Gresham College is an unusual institution of higher learning off Holborn in central London. Sir Christopher Wren ( 20 October 1632 &ndash 25 February 1723) was a 17th century English Designer, Astronomer The building survived the Great Fire, and saw use as a garrison, a Guildhall and Royal exchange. The College moved to Gresham Street. Gresham house was demolished in 1768 and a new Gresham house was built in its place.
• Crosby Hall, built in 1466 and named after local politician Sir John Crosby. One of its famous visitors was King Richard III, and another was William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare ( baptised The Bard set a scene of Richard III where the Duke of Gloucester plotted his route to the crown in Crosby Hall.
• Crosby Place, which was built in 1596, the year that Richard III was written.
• The City of London Club, which was founded in 1830.
• Palmerston House was a building that survived from the 19th century, through both world wars. It was named after the Third Viscount Palmerston. It stood at 51-55 Broad Street. It was occupied for some time by the Cunard Steam Shipping Company.

See also

• 30 St Mary Axe — Tower 42's nearest tall neighbour
• One Canada Square (Canary Wharf) — the tallest building in London
• Bishopsgate Tower - a much taller skyscraper being planned nearby
• List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain
• List of tallest structures in London

References

External links

• http://www.tower42.com/
• Vertigo42 - seafood and champagne bar on the 42nd floor
• Skyscrapernews.com file on Tower 42
• SkyscraperCity.com — a forum for skyscraper enthusiasts
• Tower 42 in the Structurae database
• Rhodes Twenty Four