The Shell Centre as seen from the London Eye. The tower is in the foreground. Another wing of the Upstream Building is on the left (hidden wings connect the two), and part of the Downstream building can be glimpsed on the far left. The Shell Tower is a skyscraper located at Belvedere Road in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a prominent feature on the South Bank of the River Thames near County Hall, and now forms the backdrop to the London Eye. The tower was constructed in 1961, to a design by Sir Howard Robertson, and stands at 107 metres (351 feet) high with 27 storeys (26 numbered and a mezzanine level) and extends three storeys below ground. It is the UK headquarters of Shell. Download high resolution version (423x640, 85 KB)Shell Centre, London, UK. Photo by Przemyslaw BlueShade Idzkiewicz. ...
Download high resolution version (423x640, 85 KB)Shell Centre, London, UK. Photo by Przemyslaw BlueShade Idzkiewicz. ...
The London Eye at twilight The British Airways London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel, opened in 1999 and is the largest observation wheel (a type of Ferris wheel) in the world. ...
For other uses, see Skyscraper (disambiguation). ...
The London Borough of Lambeth is a London borough in South London, England and forms part of Inner London. ...
The National Theatre is one of the collection of arts buildings that make up the South Bank Centre. ...
The Thames (pronounced []) is a river flowing through southern England, in its lower reaches flowing through London into the sea. ...
County Hall County Hall is a building in Lambeth, London, that was used as the headquarters of London County Council and later the Greater London Council (GLC). ...
The London Eye at twilight The British Airways London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel, opened in 1999 and is the largest observation wheel (a type of Ferris wheel) in the world. ...
1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...
View of the ground floor of the Glaspaleis from the mezzanine View of the mezzanine in the lobby of the former Capitol Cinema, Ottawa, Canada In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building; it is often low-ceilinged, and often projects in...
Royal Dutch Shell MLC is a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest energy corporations in the world, and one of the six supermajors (vertically integrated private-sector oil exploration, natural gas, and petroleum product marketing companies). ...
Site history and layout The Shell Tower forms only part of the Shell Centre, which originally consisted of two main groups of buildings. The office buildings constructed for Shell occupy only part of the site cleared for the 1951 Festival of Britain. The areas closer to the River Thames are now occupied by Jubilee Gardens and the South Bank Centre. Jubilee Gardens remained undeveloped prior to its laying out as an open space, largely because of a restrictive covenant in favour of Shell that restricts any building on the part of the site directly between the Shell Tower and the River Thames. 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition which opened in May 1951 in London. ...
Jubilee Gardens was created in 1977 to mark the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II and sits at the heart of London’s cultural centre, South Bank. ...
The South Bank Centre is a complex of arts buildings located on the south bank of the River Thames beside the Hungerford Bridge. ...
Covenant, in its most general sense, is a word for a solemn promise or similar undertaking. ...
The naming of the Shell Centre buildings perpetuated the split of the Festival site into distinct Upstream and Downstream areas - separated by the railway viaduct approach to Hungerford Bridge. It appears that the names were suggested because few visitors to the area are aware that the Thames flows from South to North rather than from West to East in this reach, and references to compass points would be misleading. Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges, seen from the north The Hungerford Bridge runs over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. ...
The Shell Tower, together with mid-rise attached wings in the area upriver and south of the railway, was originally known as the Upstream Building. By an interesting coincidence, this also reflected oil industry usage as the building contained Shell's Exploration & Production (Upstream) organisation.
The Shell Tower is the main UK office of Royal Dutch Shell, and was formerly the headquarters of the Shell Transport & Trading Co when the Shell Group was a dual listed company. Royal Dutch Shell's global headquarters is now in the Netherlands. Royal Dutch Shell MLC is a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest energy corporations in the world, and one of the six supermajors (vertically integrated private-sector oil exploration, natural gas, and petroleum product marketing companies). ...
Royal Dutch Shell PLC is a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest energy corporations in the world, and one of the six supermajors (vertically integrated private-sector oil exploration, natural gas, and petroleum product marketing companies). ...
A dual-listed company or DLC is a corporate structure which involves two listed companies with different sets of shareholders sharing ownership of one set of operational businesses. ...
The other building, to the north of the railway, was originally known as the Downstream Building. It was converted into 'The White House' apartments in the 1990s. This controversially involved the addition of extra floors of penthouse flats, which are visible above the Royal Festival Hall when viewed from the Golden Jubilee Bridge and destroy the uniform skyline between the two parts of the Centre. Germans dancing on the Berlin Wall in late 1989, the symbol of the cold war divide falls down as the world unites in the 1990s. ...
The Royal Festival Hall is a concert, dance and talks venue within the South Bank Centre in London. ...
Hungerford Bridge is a bridge, or triplet of bridges, over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. ...
Architecture and Urban Design
 A plaque in the lobby of Shell Centre The choice of Portland Stone cladding, and bronze framed individual upright windows were denounced by Modern Movement critics, and the Centre's buildings have generally been regarded as dull. However, the extremely traditional cladding has meant that the buildings have weathered better than most of their contemporaries with glazed facades. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 705 KB) Taken on a recent trip to see a friend, this plaque in the lobby of Shell Centre on London describes the site and building. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 705 KB) Taken on a recent trip to see a friend, this plaque in the lobby of Shell Centre on London describes the site and building. ...
This article focuses on the cultural movement labeled modernism or the modern movement. See also: Modernism (Roman Catholicism) or Modernist Christianity; Modernismo for specific art movement(s) in Spain and Catalonia. ...
The original interiors were luxuriously appointed, and as well as contributions from a British design team (many of whom had worked on the Festival of Britain), they included work by Ernesto Rogers who had worked on the Torre Velasca in Milan. Facilities for staff were lavish by the standards of the time, and the basement of the building still contains a full size swimming pool and a spacious gymnasium. Until 1998 there was also a fully equipped theatre which -unusually for a space dedicated to amateur productions - had full fly tower facilities. [1] The basement is also reported to have originally contained a rifle range. Milan (Italian: Milano; Lombard: Milán (listen)) is the main city of northern Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. ...
1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...
A fly tower is a part of a theatre above the stage where flat scenery in the form of gauzes, cloths and flats are stored and flown in when needed. ...
The courtyard of the Upstream Building includes two notable sculptures: 'Torsion Fountain' (also known as The Shell Fontain) by Franta Belsky is a tall bronze column of shell-like forms, which once poured water into one another; and 'Motorcyclist' by Siegfried Charoux - a larger than life figure of a rider astride his machine. Franta Belsky was a Czech sculptor. ...
The public realm of the Upstream Building has been steadily degraded over the years, with the generous space between the columns of the entrance from York Road enclosed to enlarge the foyers. Textured paving in unsympathetic colours was installed in the 1980s. This was primarily to deter rough sleepers and skateboarders. The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ...
A homeless Frenchman. ...
A skateboarder performing a frontside lipslide Skateboarding is the act of rolling on or performing tricks with a skateboard. ...
In 2004, a planning application was approved to convert the lower floors of the Upstream Building courtyard and the former staff cafeteria into a shopping centre, and to construct a contrasting new glazed office building on the Podium site to the south, which is currently a paved open space. The sculptures will be relocated. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The Shell centre has also been a place for Urban Sports. The square in the middle of the complex was originally used by skateboarders, but anti-skating measures were put in place. However, Freerunners and Followers of Parkour have used it continually as a place to train. However, recently it has been blocked off for building works.
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