54 Broadway

54 Broadway
Broadway Buildings
General information
LocationWestminster, London
Coordinates51°30′00″N 0°08′00″W / 51.49989°N 0.13347°W / 51.49989; -0.13347
Completed
1924
Technical details
Floor count9

54 Broadway, sometimes known as Broadway Buildings (now renumbered 50 Broadway), is an office building in Broadway, London.

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. In 1925, the Government Code and Cypher School co-located within the building, although it was on a different floor to the Secret Intelligence Service. GC&CS moved out to Bletchley Park in August 1939.

During the Second World War it had a brass plaque identifying it as the offices of the "Minimax Fire Extinguisher Company". 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. 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."

The Secret Intelligence Service moved out to Century House in 1964. During the 1990s, the building was used by the project team for the Jubilee Line Extension to the London Underground.

Notes

  1. ↑ SIS had previously been based at 2 Whitehall Court.
  2. ↑ GC&CS had previously been based at Watergate House, York Buildings, Adelphi.

References

  1. 1 2 Berkeley, Roy (1994). A Spy's London. London: Leo Cooper. pp. 7–8. ISBN 9781473827202. OCLC 973676356.
  2. ↑ Johnson, J. (1997). The Evolution of British Sigint 1653–1939. Cheltenham: HMSO. p. 44.
  3. ↑ Smith, Michael (2001) [1999]. "An Undervalued Effort: how the British broke Japan's Codes". In Smith, Michael; Erskine, Ralph (eds.). Action this Day. London: Bantam. pp. 2–3. ISBN 978-0-593-04910-5.
  4. ↑ Judd, Alan (24 September 2000). "One in the Eye for the Vauxhall Trollop". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  5. ↑ Philby, Kim (2003) [1968]. My Silent War. London: Modern Library. p. 64. ISBN 9780375759833. OCLC 892590995.
  6. ↑ "Top Secret: A Century of British Espionage". The Independent. London. 6 October 2009. Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  7. ↑ Mitchell, Bob (2003). Jubilee Line Extension From Concept to Completion. Thomas Telford. p. 12. ISBN 978-0727730282.