54 Broadway

54 Broadway sometimes known as Broadway buildings is an office building in Broadway, London.

54 Broadway
54 Broadway (on the right)
General information
LocationWestminster, London
Coordinates
Completed1924
Technical details
Floor count9

History

The building, which has a prominent mansard roof, was completed around 1924, when it became the main operating base for the Secret Intelligence Service.[1][lower-alpha 1] During the Second World War it had a brass plaque identifying it as the offices of the "Minimax Fire Extinguisher Company".[1] Sir Stewart Menzies, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, had access to a tunnel, which connected 54 Broadway to his private residence in Queen Anne's Gate.[2] Kim Philby, who worked in the building during the war, described it as

a dingy building, a warren of wooden partitions and frosted glass windows served by an "ancient lift".[3]

The building has been used as overflow facility by London Underground, based at 55 Broadway, since the Secret Intelligence Service moved out to Century House in 1964.[4]

Notes
  1. SIS had previously been based at 2 Whitehall Court.
gollark: It looks like the issue is that it overcompensates or something, perhaps it needs to run faster.
gollark: Solution: fudge factor. This worked for a bit then failed when it somehow refused to go up.
gollark: Okay, so somehow the "AI" is fine until it reaches a column, at which point it immediately plummets into one.
gollark: This is hampering development of my flappy bird "AI".
gollark: Æ somehow console.log doesn't work properly?

References
  1. Berkeley, pp. 7-8
  2. Alan Judd (24 September 2000). "One in the eye for the Vauxhall Trollop". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. Philby, Kim (2003). My silent war. Modern Library. ISBN 978-0375759833.
  4. "Top secret: A century of British espionage". The Independent. 5 October 2009. Retrieved 12 February 2017.

Sources
  • Berkeley, Roy (1994). A Spy’s London. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-1473827202.
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