The public's interest was attracted by almost the earliest project of a skyscraper - moreover, with glass facades and on a steel frame. This is a competitive work of the English architect Charles Burton - a version of the reconstruction of the "Crystal Palace" at the end of the World's Fair in 1851, for which this huge structure was created by Joseph Paxton. It could not remain in Hyde Park, so it was necessary to come up with a new location and purpose for it (or its component parts).
Burton proposed to assemble a tower 1000 feet high (just over 300 m) from its metal and glass parts; the two lower rectangular tiers ended with three round ones. The project was published in The Builder magazine for the years 1851/52, which is significantly ahead of the first American counterparts (more modest in size, but implemented). However, if Charles Burton's project was not sold at auction this month, only experts would remember about it today.
Another building, which also came to the fore, some observers even deny the right to be called a skyscraper: this is the 53-meter headquarters of the metropolitan transport administration Transport for London (at the time of construction - Underground Electric Railways Company of London), a wonderful Art Deco monument, a long time remaining among the tallest buildings in London. This administrative building was built on the site at 55 Broadway in 1927-1929 by Charles Holden, who then worked extensively on the projects of the metro stations. The building itself contains the St. James Park station. At the very beginning of 2011, he was awarded the status of a "first row" monument - the highest possible in the UK.
The design of this building was extremely innovative for England in the 1920s: the cruciform plan (a response to the complex shape of the site) made it possible to illuminate all floors without the use of light wells; stairs, elevators and bathrooms were located in the central tower serving 4 office wings with a free plan. The interior has preserved marble decoration and numerous bronze details. Outside, the facades are faced with limestone - Portland stone; sculptures are carved right in its massif: two "fours" of winds (to be enough for all the facades) and Jacob Epstein's "Day" and "Night" marking the main entrances. Eminent craftsmen were also involved in the "winds": for example, one of the "West Winds" was the first government order from Henry Moore. Almost all of the Art Deco figures depicted were nude: to many Londoners they seemed ugly and obscene, and only the rebuff given by Holden and the building's customer, Frank Pick, saved them from possible destruction.
N. F.
