Television House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Television House |
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The building in 2013
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Edwardian |
| Town or city | London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 51°30′48″N 0°07′02″W / 51.513393°N 0.117279°W |
| Technical details | |
| Size | 9 storeys, 180,000 sq ft (16,722.5 m2) floor space |
Television House is the former name of a large building in London, located on Kingsway. For many years, it was a very important place for different groups. From 1918, it was the main office for the Air Ministry, which looks after the Royal Air Force. Later, starting in 1955, it became the home for big television companies like Associated-Rediffusion and Independent Television News (ITN). It also housed the TV Times magazine and the main group for ITV companies. After the TV companies moved out, it became the headquarters for government offices and then for a large energy company. Today, it is known as 61 Aldwych.
Contents
Building's History
Adastral House: Early Years
The area around Kingsway was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s. Old, crowded buildings were replaced with wide streets and grand office buildings.
When the Air Ministry was created in 1918, its main office moved to Kingsway. One of the buildings there was named Adastral House. This name came from the motto of the Royal Air Force (RAF). Adastral House remained the Air Ministry's home throughout World War II. During the war, in 1940, a famous RAF leader named Arthur Harris was watching for fires from the building's roof during the bombing of London. He made a well-known comment about the bombing. After the war, the building became known to the public because the Met Office would announce London's weather from its roof during BBC forecasts.
During World War II, a brave teenager from Jamaica named Billy Strachan sold everything he owned. He traveled all the way from the Caribbean to Adastral House. He thought this was where he should go to join the RAF. When he arrived, he faced unfair treatment from the guards. Luckily, a sergeant helped him and told him how to join the RAF correctly. Billy Strachan went on to become a skilled bomber pilot. He also became a leader in the fight for black civil rights in Britain.
Television House: TV Takes Over
In 1954, a new group called the Independent Television Authority (ITA) chose the first companies to start the new commercial TV network, ITV. Before this, the BBC was the only TV broadcaster in the UK. This meant there were no other TV studios available. So, Associated-Rediffusion, one of the new TV companies, had to build everything from scratch.
A company that owned Associated-Rediffusion bought Adastral House from the government. They hired a construction company to completely change the inside of the building. They built new offices, technical rooms, and TV studios. This big project started in early 1955. ITV was planned to start on September 22, 1955, so the work was done very quickly, almost 24 hours a day.
Four small TV studios were built inside the building. These were mainly used for news programs and for showing commercials between shows. The main, larger studios for big productions were located in Wembley, outside central London. The building also had office space and dining areas for over 1,000 people. There were fancy offices for the managers, including a boardroom with wooden walls.
The first offices and studios for ITN (Independent Television News) were on the seventh and eighth floors of Television House.
The TV Times magazine, which was partly owned by Associated-Rediffusion, also had offices in the building from 1957 to 1958.
In 1966, a special computer room was added on the second floor. It held an early mainframe computer that helped manage all the advertising bookings for the TV shows.
Associated TeleVision (ATV), another early ITV company, also used Television House for its offices for the first few years. Associated-Rediffusion even let them use the space for free for a while. This helped ITV survive during a difficult financial time between 1955 and 1957.
St Catherine's House: Government Use
In 1967, the ITA changed the TV contracts. A new company called Thames Television was formed. This new company had too many studios in London. So, the Wembley studios were sold to another TV company. Thames Television decided it would be better to build a brand new studio complex. This new complex would be ready for color TV and located outside the center of London.
Thames Television used Television House as its main office while their new building was being constructed in Euston.
When Thames Television moved out in 1970, the government took over the building again. This time, it was used by the General Register Office for England and Wales. This office keeps records of births, marriages, and deaths for people in England and Wales. The building was renamed St Catherine's House. In 1997, the General Register Office moved out and went to Southport.
After a lot of renovations, the building became the UK headquarters for ExxonMobil, a large energy company.
Centrium: New Businesses Move In
After ExxonMobil left, the building was renamed "The Centrium." Many different companies and groups had offices there. These included Herman Miller (known for office furniture), the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and several pharmaceutical and investment companies.
61 Aldwych: Today's Name
The building was later renamed "61 Aldwych" by its managers. Today, it continues to be used for various offices.
Building Facilities
Television House had several important facilities for TV production:
- Four small studios (named 7, 8, 9, and 10) for different types of shows.
- A Master Control room to manage all the broadcasts.
- A Maintenance Workshop for repairs.
- A VTR room with video recorders.
- A Telecine room with machines to convert film to video.
- Six rehearsal rooms for actors and presenters.
- Six projector theatres.
- Fifteen cutting rooms for editing.
- A dubbing theatre for sound mixing.
