You know, I kind of agree with you, I think it’s a fantastic building frankly, but how would you follow it? What could be built to out class the design?
Well put! It's hideous, but the huge, inner atrium is rather exciting, especially if one suffers from acrophobia, as I do. Can the public just walk in, or is it only for workers? I've been to London many times, but have never tried to get in.
@@EElgar1857 I don't know! I visited in 2017 and I saw no one go in or out. If anyone told me it was a permanent public artwork display (not for use or occupancy), I'd believe it.
@@ardensvirens It actually looks exactly like a really cool modern art installation I saw at a museum here when I was a kid. It had like pipes with water in them and balls and shit it was really cool.
I actually like this style of architecture. I'd prefer this over Brutalism. The Urban Refinery is an excellent description. I get the feeling of CyberPunk influence as well.
when you lamented that the design of the building placed the burden of its design on the public rather than on the owners and the interior; the entire point of the building became instantly clear
I wouldn’t love if every building was built this way, but I as a one-off I actually quite like it. It’s interesting and unique, and a lot of care clearly went into its design. Life would be boring if everything was just built to fit in with the buildings around it.
There is not a single architectural style that I would like to see dominating the entire world or even an entire country. But a city with buildings in this style, that looks like a giant steelworks? I would love that.
Yeah. As long as you put enough work into the design, it doesn't need to fit in. The worst designs are the lazy ones that don't even fit in, but this one? I like it.
You have been playing sonic spin ball from the 90s ey 😆 the old sonic the hedgehog game.. robotnik would feel right at home here.. and in that game he has a place on top of a volcano just as you described 😆 👍
Spot on video and comments. I remember a contemporary quip that the building was intended to commemorate Lloyds' beginnings in a coffee shop... by looking like a coffee machine.
In the age of faceless, monolithic glass prisms this is the most inventive building to come out of the late 20th Century in the City. It's as intriguing to the mind as an human anatomy doll where you can explore what it takes for a breathing, living organisms to function.
@KolTony By being so comparatively ugly it at least makes the other incredibly boring glass skyscrapers in London look good. Compare it to New York that has nothing like this and where all of the glass sky scrapers just blend together and are even starting to block the historic ones.
One assumes that if you're in the business of underwriting ships, you can pretty much design your building any way you'd like...the clients will come to you regardless...where else are they going to go? That being said, it is certainly a very distinctive design...quintessentially 80s techno-cyberpunk...it also evokes Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis...
I was working nearby, on the construction of the Standard Chartered bank, while the Lloyds building was still going up. I think it was Costain who had the main contract for Lloyds - orange hard-hats everywhere - and they had a magnificent canteen in the building. Complete with a staff of middle-aged ladies, it resembled a Lyon's Corner House from the 50-60s. The menu was simply amazing and the low prices even more so. I know all this because a small number of us took to eating there! The SCB's contractor's canteen was like "Grease with everything" and so the appeal was obvious, and who doesn't like eating-out anyway? We had a few problems with getting onto the site - but who questions a bunch of hard-hatted, mortar-spattered chaps with hard-hats and tape-measures hung about them, heading for breakfast? We got questioned, and our response that we were bricklayers drew a reply to the effect that there no bricks involved in the construction. One of us responded that we were working down below fashioning a new sewer outfall and got believed and that was that for a glorious few weeks until the union got involved. By then we had taken to eating lunch there too. On a Friday lunch-time a portly gent got up and addressed the room thus - "Brothers, we will now call a meeting regarding the dismissal of two of our brothers and what action we should take ....." and so on. We, the naughty brickies from across the square, got up to leave which invoked cries of protest from the gathering, until we said that "We don't work here mates, we have to get back or we'll be sacked", at which they all laughed and let us go immediately. I might have heard "feck off an don't come back" a couple of times, but we weren't about to chance our arms again...
In fact it was far from thrown up. At the time it was the most expensive building in the country at £75m and took 8 years to build from start to finish.
As someone who works in this building I can assure you no thought was put into the comfort of the people working inside. Turns out having the heating and AC into pipes exposed to outside cold temperatures/sunlight makes it pretty unpleasant. I would gladly see it demolished.
I think it's fantastic and I'm glad it has been listed. The exposed ducting and structure may actually be less for functional reasons and more for aesthetic effect, but I appreciate how unique it is. It is so much more interesting and attractive that most of the bland, all-glass shapes that have gone up in the last 10-20 years.
People talk about buildings 'fitting in' with the city; but that's what makes cities interesting. And even St Pauls doesn't 'fit in' with the city, when it was new it was like nothing else in the city, exactly what the church wanted.
I think we live ATM where building design has taken the brutalust concrete blocks and gone, no-one wants that anymore, let's do glass and light and reflection, forgetting that those buildings need something other than another glass building to reflect, some brutalist buildings like the Barbican were great but the copies were not and few were cared for enough, Lloyds can afford to and do keep this marvel in top condition which is why it's standing the test of time, how many of our glass bolted to the outside buildings will be left without good maintenance and care and end up going the same way ? It's time for another Lloyds building, one that truly breaks the mold, that fits nowhere but in that unfitting fits perfectly in London's skyline. Canary wharf and the Gherkin are imo the best glass designs in London.
Misty Wolf Lloyds actually sold the building at a bargain a few years back. They couldn’t justify the mounting maintenance costs, complaining that all of the vital mechanisms are exposed to the elements. They are even considering leaving the building altogether.
@@nenben101 That seems less a problem with the aesthetic design and more a problem of bad practical material choice. There's plenty of things that are just fine when exposed to the elements. I guess someone forgot to engineer the building's bowels to withstand outside conditions. Now, if it's just a matter of "ugly" algae and (harmless, superficial) rust buildup, I say they should just leave it. This is supposed to look industrial, right? Then let it look industrial! (I know rust tends to be genuinely damaging, but I think that's not necessarily _always_ the case, so it depends which kind of rust it is.)
I think there's beauty in being able to see and appreciate all of the different systems and utilities that make a structure function. Being able to bring a building that looks like it belongs in a graphic novel into the physical world is pretty cool to me.
One of those buildings that you can’t quite get your head round. From certain angles outside it’s strangely beautiful, from others horribly dystopian and industrial. However having inside is a different story. One of the most impressive interiors to a building I’ve ever seen. Fantastic privilege to have been able to see it from both outside and in
I think that's a rather pessimistic way to see the design. I consider viewing this building to be like looking at a watch mechanism or a vintage engine. It celebrates the almost mathematical beauty of science and engineering.
Exactly that’s the whole point of the building. Actually many people in Europe or across the world who are living in industrial zones see structures similar to this one. Now imagine it is placed in the middle of financial district
Except of course watch mechanisms are covered with watch cases, to resist the wear ant tear of the outside world. Even expensive watches that exist just to be watch mechanisms cover their mechanisms in sapphire glass. As an old functionalist the function of the skin of a building is to keep the elements out as efficiently as possible, not to make a feature of a sewer pipe.
It's 34 years old and still provocative enough to get so many, and such a variety of reactions. That alone makes it worthwile. It's also clever to protect this buiding against itself by listing it.
Stumbling across this beauty was a highlight when i visited London last year. Love to see the engineering turned outwards, far more exciting than yet another simple fasade.
I’ve grown to like the building and it’s aged very well. My mum worked in the previous building and dad was involved with the construction of the new building. He started of hating it but really appreciated the design by completion. His area of work is normally confined to the plant rooms, risers etc that most people never see but now it’s on show and a major part of the design that will be there for generations to see. He was 80 earlier this week. Thanks for the video.
The acid test is how it functions as an office. It would be interesting to hear from people who actually work in the building. That atrium seems nice but I can imagine it means sound is easily transmitted between floors.
See my comment. I visited Rowe & Maw's satellite office there in around 2000. The actual offices were poky, stuffy and the carpet looked grubby. I would not have liked to work in there. As jobs go, I also hated that, so there you go!
I loved working there in the 80s. The higher level offices were glassed in so separated from the atrium. In fact even the underwriting floors have a ceiling design which limits the spread of sound. I did have a desk right up against the glass though which might be a little vertigo inducing for some - certainly I knew people who would queue for the service elevator as they couldn't face the glass-sided escalators or the external glass boxes! It is a machine for working in. Another interesting thing is that if you were working late in the evening the building would start to shut down and the lights would start to go out. If you hit the switch by your desk then your area would stay lit and the path to the toilets and the lift would stay lit too. Until the next shutdown cycle kicked in. In 1984 it was way ahead of its time.
interesting, i seem to be of the exact opposite opinion to you with regards to the building and its environment. To me, it's because the building is so distinct from it's surroundings that really adds to the appeal. The fact that it sticks out like a sore thumb and makes you look up and think "hold on a minute what's that about", those little moments when you're walking through a city in my opinion is what creates the distinct vibe.
They have a wood panelled boardroom on the top floor. It’s a bizarre contrast; still it’s an interesting tour if you can get one. Oh there you go it gets a mention and it’s a dining room!
@@JagoHazzard I went inside in 2003 during the the London Open House Weekend. The boardroom wasn't open to visit, but the main part of the building was. The main things I remember are the cavernous space, the escalators, and amid all that, how poky and spartan the actual workspaces for the underwriters (?) were. There were long wooden tables, like an old-fashioned school library, with a partition running along the middle .Not much elbow room, sound proofing, or privacy. I wouldn't have fancied working in those conditions.
@@JagoHazzard www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=lloyds+building+boardroom There are some pictures of it. Maybe they'll let people in during Open House day some year again. I managed to get in that way. It's quite a contrast between that boardroom/dining room and the rest of the building. And I LOVE the contrast between Llloyds building & Leadenhall Market next to it.
The nickname of centre Pompidou is the refinery. I strongly believe the Lloyd's building belongs in an industrial zone, surely not in the heart of London.
I strongly believe that having buildings like this in the centre of London is what makes The City The City and not a museum :) London's great strength is that it is massively varied and unplanned. The old and the new sit comfortably alongside each other. The contrasts just make the whole place more fascinating.
I love how this building informed the design of the Cheesegrater across the road, with its exposed lift shafts and structural elements. They make a great complementary pair.
I remember, while at college, and training for a life in commerce. 1985. I had a meeting in the Baltic Exchange nearby. I came out and waited for my lift. I saw the Lloyd's building. Out of this world. Whenever I see this building I am transported back to that moment in time, when there seemed, at last, a future to be bright in.
I agree. If we are destined to be controlled by rapacious financial capitalists (and it seems as though we are, at least until the next apocalypse), then the very least they can do for those of us on the outside is to provide us with some exciting visual interest, and this building in my opinion certainly does that. Many years ago, I used to live very close to the Pompidou Centre and I loved that too, although in that case I happened to approve of its function as well as its form.
Some of the inside may be ugly and ostentatious but it's equally if not even more fascinating and spectacular than the outside I'd argue. It's a shame Jago didn't seem to have permission to go inside as a tour of that building is unforgettable. For anyone reading this, if you're in London and get the chance to go inside and will have access to large parts of it, not just the main trading halls then do, it's an experience you won't forget.
This is one of those channels - and there aren't very many - the discovery of which makes you feel like an egg-sized diamond just fell out of a box of oatmeal into your saucepan, so to speak. Regards, Kev ps. Sorry about the dubious simile but you get the idea. -K.
Kevin, I quite gree. So many nuggets of gold scattered about. It's not that hard with a city like London; there's so much of both it and its history, but there's something about the slightly unimpressed way Jago remarks upon things that I rather enjoy.
One of my favourite buildings, the contrast between the old facade 1:08 and the new building sits comfortably on the eye and works! It looks best at night when it’s dressed in blue lighting. Still looks futuristic today!
The Pompidou Centre immediately came to mind when you started speaking and then you mentioned it. I'm guessing there aren't many more examples of (ye gods) Bowellism out there. Wikipedia says Channel 4 building and something in Rotterdam. I like it, but only because there's one of them. As you said, imagine if all buildings were like this.
The Davis Centre at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), which is the computer research building, was designed to look like a microchip. It's not as dramatic on the outside, but the building has dual atriums that house all the exposed duct work instead.
I would say the Universitätsklinikum Aachen would also fit this style. I find it kind of remarkable to have such a new and destinct building style that is only used for such a short time. It's definitely great that these buildings exist at all.
@@soviut303 can confirm, having studied there (sigh) several decades ago now. At the time it was not even a decade old and was already suffering from leaking and heating/cooling issues. I always found it to be a cold, inhospitable place (and not just because of the faculty). Unlike Lloyd's, the materials looked "cheap," spaces were small and not well laid out, and the red, yellow and teal paint scheme didn't age well. But I guess it's an "interesting" design.
I worked in this building the year it opened. I loved it. In fact my leaving gift from Lloyd's was a print of '1 Lime street, nearing completion' which I still have. The interior is like a cathedral.
The best bit I like about this building is at night, no honestly, and its blue lights giving it a somewhat ghostly appearance, but you cant deneigh its presence, even If lost and you drive by you know where you are, sometimes.. thanks for the video.Change of track, how about doing a bit on the closed underground/ over ground line from central London to the "Secret Nuclear Bunker" at Kelvedon Hatch, its train that always used to be standing by to wisk London`s leaders to safety/ thank you - Ian.
The Kelvedon Hatch bunker is fascinating, I must have been there four times I think, but I didn't realise there was an underground rail connection! Makes sense though, as it would be a very long walk from Ongar station, even in the days when that was served by the Central Line, and even by car it would be a bit of a risk in the context of an imminent nuclear attack!
It's got curves in all the right places but it's also kinda boxy, it's not pretty but it's also not ugly, it unapologetically shines in the sun like the token supermodel at the end of a fashion show, love me or hate me, it's the marmite of Londons office blocks. Personally I will go out of my way to pass by it on visits into town, I love it.
Despite knowing many of the odd-shaped skyscrapers of London, this one is definitely new to me. It certainly looks very futuristic and very 80s/90s, as a one-off architectural element in the city, it's clearly an interesting site, yet your point of view regarding a whole city built like this does put it in a whole different perspective.
I love it! I think it's really special to have a city with variety, buildings added over time with different architectural styles. I love knowing that I can take a short journey and go and look at something like St Paul's, or the houses of Parliament. Monotony in a city is where the life gets sucked away
Wow, this building is _gorgeous._ I want one like this in my town, I'd visit it occasionally just to admire its beauty. "Can you imagine an entire city mad up of buildings like this? It would look like a steelworks!" Yes! Steelworks are _beautiful!_ I'd visit a city like that~
I had the pleasure of working in this Room on its opening day in 86 and the previous 58 building This buliding has got better over the years basically sorting early design issues especially on the inside. Also worked for a couple of years in the Walkie Talkie. again a radical design
I just wanted to say I love your videos, my dude. I stumbled upon your channel yesterday and your personality just fits this niche perfectly. Never would've imagined I'd be interested in weird buildings and railways around London, but I hope to see much more in the future!
This is the type of building that is fascinating when there's one of it, but that becomes horrific when there's more then one within viewing distance. I think it's good to see it listed, given it's incredibly unique nature, and its lovely for what it is, but I am also glad there's not more of it.
A glass skyscraper separating the “little people” from “finance” is arguably more disconnected and less transparent than using your headquarters to demonstrate functionality and needs of a high occupancy building. Like a peak behind the curtain.
There are only two people whose videos I give a like to before watching them, because I know I will enjoy them. Mark Felton is one and Jago is the other, and I'm never disappointed.
I used to work round here and this was my favourite building to look at. It's like nothing else in London and has a futuristic feel to it. Every other building basically looks the same, but this looks gritty and industrial, and awesome being a shiny metallic. It's interesting from an engineering perspective. Really love this building.
I haven’t been to London in several years and, thanks to the failures of the current US federal government, won’t be there in the immediate future, but I did live and work there for a year and have been back tons of times. Oddly, I don’t remember the Lloyds Building, even though I spend most of my time there in the City and its immediate environs and I dig architecture. Once Lloyds decided that they seriously outgrew and needed to replace their HQ yet again yet needed to remain in the same ‘hood, I give them a lot of credit for deciding against some neoclassic “temple of finance” designed to look and feel like it was there since time began or, even worse, some generic tower such as the former JPMorgan’s NYC headquarters at 60 Wall Street. This structure is truly “balls out” and deserves some tepid praise for that, although being Grade I listed does give it more permanence than it probably deserves. It does look like it sorely needs to be power washed and tidied up as soon as humanly possible.
He described the National Gallery extension as a monstrous carbuncle. However, I'd like to think he would also describe this in similar festering terms.
As someone who has never been to London these videos are super fascinating. The city is a mesh of modern and older architecture and the city planning is so unique to anything we have in the states besides maybe Boston or Philly. Such a good city I would love to see it one day
I spent a few hours there shortly after it was opened. My colleague, afraid of heights, nearly fainted in the lift which is outside and glass from floor to ceiling thus bringing on dizziness. Inside was interesting and we saw the lutine bell which is ring when there is a major loss. An old fellah in antiquated uniform sits in the middle of a floor on a sort of podium. We had to calm ourselves down in a very nice Young’s pub nearby
Personally I love the Lloyd's building but as many others have said, you wouldn't want a load of similar-looking buildings all in the same place. Some years ago I was lucky enough to go on a guided tour, which was fascinating. The 18thC dining room mentioned was certainly a surprise to me ! 😎
Lloyds is Grade 1 listed, and so it should be as it's an exceptional work of architecture. This building was, I think, and many of my contemporaries would agree, one of the absolute BEST example's of 80's seminal architecture, which influenced a generation (and more) of architects and related professionals. It is a powerful work and still is, which defines the contemporary meaning of function over design, which inspired young building designers to think more creatively in terms of the integration of architecture, structure and building services. For young Engineers like me at that time, this building was truly inspirational and it has influenced my profession massively, so we have gone on to work more collaboratively in the future and create buildings and structures which are amazing and people like you can enjoy but not truly appreciate.
I had the privilege back in 1988 to visit Lloyd's of London and have a tour around it. Some of the lifts in the building have glass on the outside, so those outside can see the people going up in the lift and you can see them! On the ground floor area, there is a few statues and the bells, that came from the previous building which were saved prior to demolition. Building design in the UK, had been going downhill since the late 1970's. Just look at the old TV-AM Breakfast Television Studios in Camden Town, now the MTV Europe studios. Look at the Egg Cups on the roof of the building.
It is, maybe, my favorite building in London. My best friend, who is also an architect, hates it wholeheartedly. That's another reason to love Lloyd's Building even more!)))
have been there on open house. I’ve Seen many many historic, modern building in London but this one is exceptional this is different planet. To me this is the best building in London. Building that has the most London like characteristics: class, history, business. Absolute treasure
I think it looks really cool. So much external detail means you have something new to gaze at every time you look at it. Certainly, a whole city like this would be very Blader Runner-esque, but just one definitely doesn't hurt. I'll take this over a bland glass tower any day.
Liked the video - also like the building. True, an entire city built like this would be dystopian - but as a one-off, it’s fascinating and starkly beautiful
I think it's a great building, and remember how prominent it was when I was a kid. Now, however, it's actually very easy to miss with the way everything around it has grown up. I worked more or less next door to it for months before I realized it was even there.
My only visit inside was in the late 1990s, where I got a tour by the people that provided IT support. For somewhere open plan I thought it was amazingly quiet inside. I didn't like the outside lifts though, but you do have the option of looking inwards, where you can't see anything.
Inside they have a room which was taken part by part from the old Lloyds building and reconstructed it's where they do special functions, very Edwardian lots of stucco and wood panelling (very grandiose in comparison!) The main selling feature of this style is that underwriting is not interrupted by any works that need doing like a broken lift or blocked toilet...
It's unique, practical, visually interesting, and tries to do something different. I love it! I'd never heard of Bowellism before, I would've said that the Lloyd's building was a high tech Brutalist-Structuralist design.
It looks like an ultra modern refinery and it makes me wonder what the hell whoever decided it was the "equal" of St Paul's was on. It does belong in Mega City One.
My lecturers always used to tell us that the toilet units were intended to be able to be removed for servicing - but the construction design made it that a toilet unit could only be removed if all the other units above were removed as well.
In the roof is the interior of the original Lloyds of London. Also on the ground floor is a huge exhibition of artefacts which belonged to Nelson. My son got his dad (me!) a tour after hours.
I'm a heavy critic of modern architecture and everything that comes close to it but honestly, this building is so unique it's actually kind of cool. It looks like one of them buildings that people build 5 years after an apocalypse or something which makes it so interesting. with that being said, let's not build any more.
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I think it’s fascinating and I never grow tired looking at it. That said, I’m glad there’s only one of them.
My thoughts exactly.
It's one of a kind and that's the way it should remain.
well said
You know, I kind of agree with you, I think it’s a fantastic building frankly, but how would you follow it? What could be built to out class the design?
You're right.. but if I do get to London again, I will search it out
Such an excellent example of urban oil refinery design.
Well put! It's hideous, but the huge, inner atrium is rather exciting, especially if one suffers from acrophobia, as I do.
Can the public just walk in, or is it only for workers? I've been to London many times, but have never tried to get in.
@@EElgar1857 I don't know! I visited in 2017 and I saw no one go in or out. If anyone told me it was a permanent public artwork display (not for use or occupancy), I'd believe it.
@@ardensvirens It actually looks exactly like a really cool modern art installation I saw at a museum here when I was a kid. It had like pipes with water in them and balls and shit it was really cool.
I actually like this style of architecture. I'd prefer this over Brutalism. The Urban Refinery is an excellent description.
I get the feeling of CyberPunk influence as well.
You know what archaeologists are going to say it doesn't appear to have any oil pipes it must have been ceremonial
when you lamented that the design of the building placed the burden of its design on the public rather than on the owners and the interior; the entire point of the building became instantly clear
There's a metaphor about post-modern economic reality in there...
What did you expect? It's Lloyds. They're parasites
I wouldn’t love if every building was built this way, but I as a one-off I actually quite like it. It’s interesting and unique, and a lot of care clearly went into its design. Life would be boring if everything was just built to fit in with the buildings around it.
There is not a single architectural style that I would like to see dominating the entire world or even an entire country.
But a city with buildings in this style, that looks like a giant steelworks? I would love that.
Yeah. As long as you put enough work into the design, it doesn't need to fit in. The worst designs are the lazy ones that don't even fit in, but this one? I like it.
My exact same thoughts
@@theuncalledfor Fair enough, but would you want to live there?
@@peterlangbridge4286 Honestly I'd more than fucking love to, especially given the location and the assumingly gorgeous interior.
If I was a big evil corporation, I would want a building similar to it.
Though, it'd have to be atop a volcano, of course.
You have been playing sonic spin ball from the 90s ey 😆 the old sonic the hedgehog game.. robotnik would feel right at home here.. and in that game he has a place on top of a volcano just as you described 😆 👍
Volcano, of course, not any other way is allowed, just a classic choice
You would need a big swivel chair to sit on and of course a white cat to sit on your lap.
At the bottom of the ocean would work well too, or in a giant ice cave at one of the poles.
might as well set up in an abandoned steelworks in the North-you'd probably get it for free as well
Spot on video and comments.
I remember a contemporary quip that the building was intended to commemorate Lloyds' beginnings in a coffee shop... by looking like a coffee machine.
"It's all terribly postmodern, darling"
Dang...on rewatching, what a line that I thought I'd never hear!
1:08 And a new one was thrown up in its place. That sums it up.
In the age of faceless, monolithic glass prisms this is the most inventive building to come out of the late 20th Century in the City. It's as intriguing to the mind as an human anatomy doll where you can explore what it takes for a breathing, living organisms to function.
It's a horrible building and I love it.
My thoughts exactly.
It's a lovely idea and I hate it.
It has a lot of character, even though it is a bit "ugly" and it's a vast improvement on some of the bland glass boxes that litter the area around it.
I like it from an 'always given the CoL a wide berth where possible and don't have to look at it every day' point of view.
@KolTony By being so comparatively ugly it at least makes the other incredibly boring glass skyscrapers in London look good. Compare it to New York that has nothing like this and where all of the glass sky scrapers just blend together and are even starting to block the historic ones.
One assumes that if you're in the business of underwriting ships, you can pretty much design your building any way you'd like...the clients will come to you regardless...where else are they going to go?
That being said, it is certainly a very distinctive design...quintessentially 80s techno-cyberpunk...it also evokes Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis...
I was working nearby, on the construction of the Standard Chartered bank, while the Lloyds building was still going up. I think it was Costain who had the main contract for Lloyds - orange hard-hats everywhere - and they had a magnificent canteen in the building. Complete with a staff of middle-aged ladies, it resembled a Lyon's Corner House from the 50-60s. The menu was simply amazing and the low prices even more so.
I know all this because a small number of us took to eating there! The SCB's contractor's canteen was like "Grease with everything" and so the appeal was obvious, and who doesn't like eating-out anyway? We had a few problems with getting onto the site - but who questions a bunch of hard-hatted, mortar-spattered chaps with hard-hats and tape-measures hung about them, heading for breakfast? We got questioned, and our response that we were bricklayers drew a reply to the effect that there no bricks involved in the construction. One of us responded that we were working down below fashioning a new sewer outfall and got believed and that was that for a glorious few weeks until the union got involved.
By then we had taken to eating lunch there too. On a Friday lunch-time a portly gent got up and addressed the room thus - "Brothers, we will now call a meeting regarding the dismissal of two of our brothers and what action we should take ....." and so on. We, the naughty brickies from across the square, got up to leave which invoked cries of protest from the gathering, until we said that "We don't work here mates, we have to get back or we'll be sacked", at which they all laughed and let us go immediately. I might have heard "feck off an don't come back" a couple of times, but we weren't about to chance our arms again...
That's a fun story. Thanks!
A new building was "thrown up" in its place. Definitely the best way to describe it in this case.
I was wondering if that was meant as double entendre. But maybe the phrase doesn't have that meaning in the UK.
In fact it was far from thrown up. At the time it was the most expensive building in the country at £75m and took 8 years to build from start to finish.
@@stevemichael8458 Ok.
As someone who works in this building I can assure you no thought was put into the comfort of the people working inside. Turns out having the heating and AC into pipes exposed to outside cold temperatures/sunlight makes it pretty unpleasant. I would gladly see it demolished.
I think it's fantastic and I'm glad it has been listed. The exposed ducting and structure may actually be less for functional reasons and more for aesthetic effect, but I appreciate how unique it is. It is so much more interesting and attractive that most of the bland, all-glass shapes that have gone up in the last 10-20 years.
People talk about buildings 'fitting in' with the city; but that's what makes cities interesting. And even St Pauls doesn't 'fit in' with the city, when it was new it was like nothing else in the city, exactly what the church wanted.
I know, right? It's like most people desperately crave boredom and conformity.
Fuck that, I say! I need variety and interesting concepts!
would like both these comments twice if I could.
I think we live ATM where building design has taken the brutalust concrete blocks and gone, no-one wants that anymore, let's do glass and light and reflection, forgetting that those buildings need something other than another glass building to reflect, some brutalist buildings like the Barbican were great but the copies were not and few were cared for enough, Lloyds can afford to and do keep this marvel in top condition which is why it's standing the test of time, how many of our glass bolted to the outside buildings will be left without good maintenance and care and end up going the same way ?
It's time for another Lloyds building, one that truly breaks the mold, that fits nowhere but in that unfitting fits perfectly in London's skyline.
Canary wharf and the Gherkin are imo the best glass designs in London.
Misty Wolf Lloyds actually sold the building at a bargain a few years back. They couldn’t justify the mounting maintenance costs, complaining that all of the vital mechanisms are exposed to the elements. They are even considering leaving the building altogether.
@@nenben101
That seems less a problem with the aesthetic design and more a problem of bad practical material choice. There's plenty of things that are just fine when exposed to the elements. I guess someone forgot to engineer the building's bowels to withstand outside conditions.
Now, if it's just a matter of "ugly" algae and (harmless, superficial) rust buildup, I say they should just leave it. This is supposed to look industrial, right? Then let it look industrial!
(I know rust tends to be genuinely damaging, but I think that's not necessarily _always_ the case, so it depends which kind of rust it is.)
I think there's beauty in being able to see and appreciate all of the different systems and utilities that make a structure function. Being able to bring a building that looks like it belongs in a graphic novel into the physical world is pretty cool to me.
The Lloyd’s building looks incredibly steampunk, it’s kinda cool in that regards.
Dieselpunk would be more accurate
I quite like the industrial design aesthetic. To me it looks like some sort of futuristic recycling plant.
yes sure i like it ....the pidgeons must really like it... rats habitrail
What Richard Rogers builds: the Lloyds Building and the Pompidou Centre.
Where Richard Rogers lives: a gracious 18th century Georgian row house.
Quite typical for the architects who impose these hideous high-concept buildings on the public.
I remember his Spitting Image puppet - it had his intestines on the outside as well.
@@nickmoore385 I'd forgotten about that! That was a stroke of genius
One of those buildings that you can’t quite get your head round. From certain angles outside it’s strangely beautiful, from others horribly dystopian and industrial. However having inside is a different story. One of the most impressive interiors to a building I’ve ever seen. Fantastic privilege to have been able to see it from both outside and in
I think that's a rather pessimistic way to see the design. I consider viewing this building to be like looking at a watch mechanism or a vintage engine. It celebrates the almost mathematical beauty of science and engineering.
YES YES YES YES YES, EXACTLY
Finally someone gets it.
A watch mechanism, wonderful way to put it✔
Well said, I agree
Exactly that’s the whole point of the building. Actually many people in Europe or across the world who are living in industrial zones see structures similar to this one. Now imagine it is placed in the middle of financial district
Except of course watch mechanisms are covered with watch cases, to resist the wear ant tear of the outside world. Even expensive watches that exist just to be watch mechanisms cover their mechanisms in sapphire glass. As an old functionalist the function of the skin of a building is to keep the elements out as efficiently as possible, not to make a feature of a sewer pipe.
It's 34 years old and still provocative enough to get so many, and such a variety of reactions. That alone makes it worthwile. It's also clever to protect this buiding against itself by listing it.
Stumbling across this beauty was a highlight when i visited London last year. Love to see the engineering turned outwards, far more exciting than yet another simple fasade.
I’ve grown to like the building and it’s aged very well. My mum worked in the previous building and dad was involved with the construction of the new building. He started of hating it but really appreciated the design by completion. His area of work is normally confined to the plant rooms, risers etc that most people never see but now it’s on show and a major part of the design that will be there for generations to see. He was 80 earlier this week. Thanks for the video.
The acid test is how it functions as an office. It would be interesting to hear from people who actually work in the building. That atrium seems nice but I can imagine it means sound is easily transmitted between floors.
Looks open plan, so between that and the noise from the atrium and the escalators it’s probably a horrible place to work.
See my comment. I visited Rowe & Maw's satellite office there in around 2000. The actual offices were poky, stuffy and the carpet looked grubby. I would not have liked to work in there. As jobs go, I also hated that, so there you go!
I loved working there in the 80s. The higher level offices were glassed in so separated from the atrium. In fact even the underwriting floors have a ceiling design which limits the spread of sound. I did have a desk right up against the glass though which might be a little vertigo inducing for some - certainly I knew people who would queue for the service elevator as they couldn't face the glass-sided escalators or the external glass boxes! It is a machine for working in. Another interesting thing is that if you were working late in the evening the building would start to shut down and the lights would start to go out. If you hit the switch by your desk then your area would stay lit and the path to the toilets and the lift would stay lit too. Until the next shutdown cycle kicked in. In 1984 it was way ahead of its time.
This channel is incredible - London's very own Tom Scott. Reckon half a million subscribers before end of year.
From the Cillit Bang commercials?
Oh wait, that was Barry... 😜
interesting, i seem to be of the exact opposite opinion to you with regards to the building and its environment. To me, it's because the building is so distinct from it's surroundings that really adds to the appeal. The fact that it sticks out like a sore thumb and makes you look up and think "hold on a minute what's that about", those little moments when you're walking through a city in my opinion is what creates the distinct vibe.
This is the most industrial building I've ever seen in my life.
They have a wood panelled boardroom on the top floor. It’s a bizarre contrast; still it’s an interesting tour if you can get one. Oh there you go it gets a mention and it’s a dining room!
I would like to see it, I must admit. They probably wouldn’t let me film it though...
Jago Hazzard I have to say it isn’t overly remarkable but is noteworthy as it sits in the corner of an upper floor like a hollodeck in a spaceship
Interesting they have wood panelled classicism for the board of governors, and architectural ephemera for the faceless drones.
@@JagoHazzard I went inside in 2003 during the the London Open House Weekend. The boardroom wasn't open to visit, but the main part of the building was. The main things I remember are the cavernous space, the escalators, and amid all that, how poky and spartan the actual workspaces for the underwriters (?) were. There were long wooden tables, like an old-fashioned school library, with a partition running along the middle .Not much elbow room, sound proofing, or privacy. I wouldn't have fancied working in those conditions.
@@JagoHazzard www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=lloyds+building+boardroom There are some pictures of it. Maybe they'll let people in during Open House day some year again. I managed to get in that way. It's quite a contrast between that boardroom/dining room and the rest of the building. And I LOVE the contrast between Llloyds building & Leadenhall Market next to it.
my favourite building, every time in london i visit and just walk around. it never fails to impress. thanks for the video sir.
The nickname of centre Pompidou is the refinery. I strongly believe the Lloyd's building belongs in an industrial zone, surely not in the heart of London.
I strongly believe that having buildings like this in the centre of London is what makes The City The City and not a museum :) London's great strength is that it is massively varied and unplanned. The old and the new sit comfortably alongside each other. The contrasts just make the whole place more fascinating.
I love how this building informed the design of the Cheesegrater across the road, with its exposed lift shafts and structural elements. They make a great complementary pair.
I remember, while at college, and training for a life in commerce. 1985. I had a meeting in the Baltic Exchange nearby. I came out and waited for my lift. I saw the Lloyd's building. Out of this world. Whenever I see this building I am transported back to that moment in time, when there seemed, at last, a future to be bright in.
Personally, I love it. It's just the most amazing piece of architecture.
I adore it. As far as I'm concerned it's the opposite of what you describe: the ugly stuff is on the inside.
Exactly.
I agree. If we are destined to be controlled by rapacious financial capitalists (and it seems as though we are, at least until the next apocalypse), then the very least they can do for those of us on the outside is to provide us with some exciting visual interest, and this building in my opinion certainly does that. Many years ago, I used to live very close to the Pompidou Centre and I loved that too, although in that case I happened to approve of its function as well as its form.
You could not have hit the nail on the head any more/better.
Some of the inside may be ugly and ostentatious but it's equally if not even more fascinating and spectacular than the outside I'd argue. It's a shame Jago didn't seem to have permission to go inside as a tour of that building is unforgettable. For anyone reading this, if you're in London and get the chance to go inside and will have access to large parts of it, not just the main trading halls then do, it's an experience you won't forget.
This is one of those channels - and there aren't very many - the discovery of which makes you feel like an egg-sized diamond just fell out of a box of oatmeal into your saucepan, so to speak.
Regards,
Kev
ps.
Sorry about the dubious simile but you get the idea.
-K.
I think I kin ware ye going
Kevin, I quite gree. So many nuggets of gold scattered about. It's not that hard with a city like London; there's so much of both it and its history, but there's something about the slightly unimpressed way Jago remarks upon things that I rather enjoy.
One of my favourite buildings, the contrast between the old facade 1:08 and the new building sits comfortably on the eye and works! It looks best at night when it’s dressed in blue lighting. Still looks futuristic today!
Honestly a whole city of these would be fukin dope
Fuck yeah!
Yeah, but build it in America.
@@peterlangbridge4286
No. I want to visit it, and I never, ever, EVER go to America. Build it in Europe, so I can go there.
The Pompidou Centre immediately came to mind when you started speaking and then you mentioned it. I'm guessing there aren't many more examples of (ye gods) Bowellism out there. Wikipedia says Channel 4 building and something in Rotterdam. I like it, but only because there's one of them. As you said, imagine if all buildings were like this.
The Davis Centre at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), which is the computer research building, was designed to look like a microchip. It's not as dramatic on the outside, but the building has dual atriums that house all the exposed duct work instead.
I would say the Universitätsklinikum Aachen would also fit this style.
I find it kind of remarkable to have such a new and destinct building style that is only used for such a short time. It's definitely great that these buildings exist at all.
@@soviut303 can confirm, having studied there (sigh) several decades ago now. At the time it was not even a decade old and was already suffering from leaking and heating/cooling issues. I always found it to be a cold, inhospitable place (and not just because of the faculty). Unlike Lloyd's, the materials looked "cheap," spaces were small and not well laid out, and the red, yellow and teal paint scheme didn't age well. But I guess it's an "interesting" design.
@@jtsholtod.79 I thought it was cool as hell when my school did a tour there.
I worked in this building the year it opened. I loved it. In fact my leaving gift from Lloyd's was a print of '1 Lime street, nearing completion' which I still have. The interior is like a cathedral.
The best bit I like about this building is at night, no honestly, and its blue lights giving it a somewhat ghostly appearance, but you cant deneigh its presence, even If lost and you drive by you know where you are, sometimes.. thanks for the video.Change of track, how about doing a bit on the closed underground/ over ground line from central London to the "Secret Nuclear Bunker" at Kelvedon Hatch, its train that always used to be standing by to wisk London`s leaders to safety/ thank you - Ian.
The Kelvedon Hatch bunker is fascinating, I must have been there four times I think, but I didn't realise there was an underground rail connection! Makes sense though, as it would be a very long walk from Ongar station, even in the days when that was served by the Central Line, and even by car it would be a bit of a risk in the context of an imminent nuclear attack!
This building is also the front cover of Hundred Reasons’ first album, Ideas Above Our Station - SUCH a good album
I love this building. It's one of a kind (thankfully) and one you don't forget if you only ever see it once. Quite clever really.
I got to go inside on an Open House London tour many years ago and found the whole structure and design very interesting. I quite like it. 🤓
It's got curves in all the right places but it's also kinda boxy, it's not pretty but it's also not ugly, it unapologetically shines in the sun like the token supermodel at the end of a fashion show, love me or hate me, it's the marmite of Londons office blocks. Personally I will go out of my way to pass by it on visits into town, I love it.
I came from the Ronan Point video, and I'm back again. I love a good architecture channel.
Despite knowing many of the odd-shaped skyscrapers of London, this one is definitely new to me. It certainly looks very futuristic and very 80s/90s, as a one-off architectural element in the city, it's clearly an interesting site, yet your point of view regarding a whole city built like this does put it in a whole different perspective.
I love it! I think it's really special to have a city with variety, buildings added over time with different architectural styles. I love knowing that I can take a short journey and go and look at something like St Paul's, or the houses of Parliament. Monotony in a city is where the life gets sucked away
Wow, this building is _gorgeous._
I want one like this in my town, I'd visit it occasionally just to admire its beauty.
"Can you imagine an entire city mad up of buildings like this? It would look like a steelworks!"
Yes! Steelworks are _beautiful!_ I'd visit a city like that~
I had the pleasure of working in this Room on its opening day in 86 and the previous 58 building This buliding has got better over the years basically sorting early design issues especially on the inside. Also worked for a couple of years in the Walkie Talkie. again a radical design
I just wanted to say I love your videos, my dude. I stumbled upon your channel yesterday and your personality just fits this niche perfectly. Never would've imagined I'd be interested in weird buildings and railways around London, but I hope to see much more in the future!
Thanks!
This is the type of building that is fascinating when there's one of it, but that becomes horrific when there's more then one within viewing distance. I think it's good to see it listed, given it's incredibly unique nature, and its lovely for what it is, but I am also glad there's not more of it.
A glass skyscraper separating the “little people” from “finance” is arguably more disconnected and less transparent than using your headquarters to demonstrate functionality and needs of a high occupancy building. Like a peak behind the curtain.
Fair point but inside most of the extra functional space freed up by means of displaying its bowels on the exterior is taken up with a vast atrium.
Uniklinik RWTH Aachen is antoher example of that architecture.. sort of. and its huge
Markus Offermann That's also one of the famous ones. Good call!
This is so fascinating. We touched in this in my first year of architecture school but only briefly, its so interesting to hear it's history!
the building, is spicy! Kudos to the architects and owners for their courage. it blew my mind when I first saw it.
An entire city like this? Definitely. Absolutely beautiful!
There are only two people whose videos I give a like to before watching them, because I know I will enjoy them. Mark Felton is one and Jago is the other, and I'm never disappointed.
I saw it at night, all lit up in blue, and it was stunning.
I used to work round here and this was my favourite building to look at. It's like nothing else in London and has a futuristic feel to it. Every other building basically looks the same, but this looks gritty and industrial, and awesome being a shiny metallic. It's interesting from an engineering perspective. Really love this building.
I’ve always wanted to have a tour inside. Fascinating design. Of its time
I love this building, I go out of my way to take pictures if it if I’m nearby & I’ve never thought of it that way before!
My favourite building in London, and I'm lucky enough to have a pass to work in there :)
Brave and audacious, again I wouldn’t want all building to look like this, but of itself, wondrous.
I walk past this everyday and everyday think “what in gods name is inside this place?” Well, now I know. And I know much more about it ! Thanks !
I haven’t been to London in several years and, thanks to the failures of the current US federal government, won’t be there in the immediate future, but I did live and work there for a year and have been back tons of times. Oddly, I don’t remember the Lloyds Building, even though I spend most of my time there in the City and its immediate environs and I dig architecture.
Once Lloyds decided that they seriously outgrew and needed to replace their HQ yet again yet needed to remain in the same ‘hood, I give them a lot of credit for deciding against some neoclassic “temple of finance” designed to look and feel like it was there since time began or, even worse, some generic tower such as the former JPMorgan’s NYC headquarters at 60 Wall Street. This structure is truly “balls out” and deserves some tepid praise for that, although being Grade I listed does give it more permanence than it probably deserves.
It does look like it sorely needs to be power washed and tidied up as soon as humanly possible.
Didn't Prince Charles describe it as, "a carbuncle on the face of a much love friend", if not it certainly fits.
He described the National Gallery extension as a monstrous carbuncle. However, I'd like to think he would also describe this in similar festering terms.
That would make me like it more.
@@CyclingSteve He would have us all wearing smocks and driving our sheep through the city :)
As someone who has never been to London these videos are super fascinating. The city is a mesh of modern and older architecture and the city planning is so unique to anything we have in the states besides maybe Boston or Philly. Such a good city I would love to see it one day
I like the honesty of it. It's a building that shows what it is.. and from a distance looks like a castle.
I spent a few hours there shortly after it was opened. My colleague, afraid of heights, nearly fainted in the lift which is outside and glass from floor to ceiling thus bringing on dizziness. Inside was interesting and we saw the lutine bell which is ring when there is a major loss. An old fellah in antiquated uniform sits in the middle of a floor on a sort of podium. We had to calm ourselves down in a very nice Young’s pub nearby
Personally I love the Lloyd's building but as many others have said, you wouldn't want a load of similar-looking buildings all in the same place.
Some years ago I was lucky enough to go on a guided tour, which was fascinating. The 18thC dining room mentioned was certainly a surprise to me ! 😎
I love this building, can't wait to see if more like it get built!
One of my favorite London structures along with the 'Walkie Talkie' and the Shard
Lloyds is Grade 1 listed, and so it should be as it's an exceptional work of architecture. This building was, I think, and many of my contemporaries would agree, one of the absolute BEST example's of 80's seminal architecture, which influenced a generation (and more) of architects and related professionals. It is a powerful work and still is, which defines the contemporary meaning of function over design, which inspired young building designers to think more creatively in terms of the integration of architecture, structure and building services. For young Engineers like me at that time, this building was truly inspirational and it has influenced my profession massively, so we have gone on to work more collaboratively in the future and create buildings and structures which are amazing and people like you can enjoy but not truly appreciate.
I'm loving these videos. Brilliantly presented. I like this building too. I think some things just come down to personal taste.
It's so unique and iconic that every inch of it shouts London!
I had the privilege back in 1988 to visit Lloyd's of London and have a tour around it. Some of the lifts in the building have glass on the outside, so those outside can see the people going up in the lift and you can see them! On the ground floor area, there is a few statues and the bells, that came from the previous building which were saved prior to demolition.
Building design in the UK, had been going downhill since the late 1970's. Just look at the old TV-AM Breakfast Television Studios in Camden Town, now the MTV Europe studios. Look at the Egg Cups on the roof of the building.
It is, maybe, my favorite building in London. My best friend, who is also an architect, hates it wholeheartedly. That's another reason to love Lloyd's Building even more!)))
have been there on open house. I’ve Seen many many historic, modern building in London but this one is exceptional this is different planet. To me this is the best building in London. Building that has the most London like characteristics: class, history, business. Absolute treasure
I think it looks really cool. So much external detail means you have something new to gaze at every time you look at it. Certainly, a whole city like this would be very Blader Runner-esque, but just one definitely doesn't hurt. I'll take this over a bland glass tower any day.
Just the sort of building you'd expect the Crimson Permanent Assurance Company to attack and conquer.
Liked the video - also like the building. True, an entire city built like this would be dystopian - but as a one-off, it’s fascinating and starkly beautiful
I actually think the building looks really cool lol
Mergatroid same
Yep.
Needs to be demolished
I think it's a great building, and remember how prominent it was when I was a kid.
Now, however, it's actually very easy to miss with the way everything around it has grown up. I worked more or less next door to it for months before I realized it was even there.
Jago: imagine a city designed like this.
Me: AN ARCHITECT HAS DESIGNED A UGLY BUILDING IN LEGO CITY!
Start the new wrecking ball!
Ben Cris2bal HEY!
@@pinkdiamond1847 BUILD THE WRECKING BALL!
I like it a lot! That's the coolest looking modern building ever.
I would want to have an office in the Lloyd's building if I was in London , but only so that I can look out my window and not have to look at it...
My only visit inside was in the late 1990s, where I got a tour by the people that provided IT support. For somewhere open plan I thought it was amazingly quiet inside. I didn't like the outside lifts though, but you do have the option of looking inwards, where you can't see anything.
Inside they have a room which was taken part by part from the old Lloyds building and reconstructed it's where they do special functions, very Edwardian lots of stucco and wood panelling (very grandiose in comparison!)
The main selling feature of this style is that underwriting is not interrupted by any works that need doing like a broken lift or blocked toilet...
I wrote an essay on this building during my master's degree in architecture. I really like this building.
It's unique, practical, visually interesting, and tries to do something different. I love it! I'd never heard of Bowellism before, I would've said that the Lloyd's building was a high tech Brutalist-Structuralist design.
It's an interesting building kinda war of the world's feel about it all. Keep up the great videos sir!
i find it beatiful and mesmerizing in a way that steel works and heavy industry are.
It looks like an ultra modern refinery and it makes me wonder what the hell whoever decided it was the "equal" of St Paul's was on. It does belong in Mega City One.
I think I remember seeing Richard Rogers satirised on Spitting Image: guts, heart & lungs etc. on the outside of the puppet.
My lecturers always used to tell us that the toilet units were intended to be able to be removed for servicing - but the construction design made it that a toilet unit could only be removed if all the other units above were removed as well.
In the roof is the interior of the original Lloyds of London. Also on the ground floor is a huge exhibition of artefacts which belonged to Nelson. My son got his dad (me!) a tour after hours.
I think it looks incredibly modern and beautiful
That side bit reminds me of Nagakin capsule tower in Japan.
I'm a heavy critic of modern architecture and everything that comes close to it but honestly, this building is so unique it's actually kind of cool.
It looks like one of them buildings that people build 5 years after an apocalypse or something which makes it so interesting. with that being said, let's not build any more.