In 2008, the US Embassy decided to change its location: the former building, designed by Ero Saarinen (1957-1960), did not fully meet the security requirements introduced after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. A "exclusion zone" was then created around the Saarinen site, but its area, limited by the historical layout of the Mayfair district, was still insufficient. Therefore, it was decided to sell the old building, and instead build a new one - with a full set of security measures.
This situation immediately caused concern for heritage defenders: a building in the very center of London, where land is incredibly expensive, could well have been bought for demolition, and it was about the construction of an architect of world importance, which has already gone down in the history of the city as the first modern embassy in the British capital and the site of large-scale protests. against the Vietnam War in 1968. The building was awarded the status of a 2nd category monument, which protected it from destruction, but the change in function was inevitable.
Although the US Embassy will be housed in a building in Grosvenor Square until 2017, when it moves to its new building in Nine Elms, its building has already been bought by Qatari-owned developer Qatari Diar. An active company in London (it came to the British capital in 2007 with a scandalous project of a residential complex on the site of the Chelsea barracks) decided to turn the administrative building into an expensive hotel with 137 rooms with a spa and a banquet hall for 1000 people.
The project, developed by David Chipperfield, increases the number of storeys of the building from five to nine tiers: there will be three underground levels, a two-height sixth floor, and a "pavilion" on the roof. In addition, the existing rear façade will be partially demolished and the floor area from the second to the fifth will be increased. As a result, the total area of the building will grow from 24 to 45 thousand m2.
The side and main facades will be refurbished, including the gilded aluminum eagle topping the building. All significant interiors will be preserved, with the exception of the hallways of the side stairs, however, for obvious reasons, the internal structure of the building as a whole will change greatly. The members of the Westminster district council who unanimously supported the project were bribed by the return of the territory around the building to the city - all fences and pedestals will be dismantled - and the interpretation of the first floor as a public area with bars and shops.
Nevertheless, plans to add to the monument caused an ambiguous reaction from heritage conservators: if the state organization Historic England (until 2015 - English Heritage) supported the project, then the 20th Century Society, which deals exclusively with buildings built after 1914, considered Chipperfield's idea harmful for the monument - but it was not heard.
