Daily Express Building - Fleet Street, London, UK

Architect	Ellis and Clarke and Sir Owen Williams
Date Built	1932
Location	Fleet Street, London
Description
The architectural practice of Ellis and Clark were originally commissioned to extend the existing Daily Express Building on to Fleet Street.  Their design involved a steel frame that was to be clad in Portland Stone.  However, it became clear that this configuration would be unsuitable for the placement of printing presses.  Sir Owen Williams was drafted in to revise the design and he was responsible for the creation of this bulding clad instead with glass and black vitreol.  Owen Williams' design included a reinforced concrete deck beneath which a clear space was created in which the printing presses were located. Williams was involved in the construction of two more buildings for the Daily Express, one in Glasgow (1937) and the other in Manchester (1939).  Both of these building bear a striking resemblance to the one on Fleet Street, as you can see from the image below of the Manchester building. Sir Owen Williams and Partners also went on to be the engineers responsible for the design of the M1 Motorway that opened in 1959. The Daily Express moved out of the building in the 1980s and what you see on Fleet Street today is only the facade of the original building and the lobby.  The rest of the building was demolished and replaced with an office building.

Among the fittings and fixtures is this handrail in the form of a snake.









This one represents Britain.



The ceiling is graced by this amazing silver light fixture.






If you walk through the entrance above you reach the oval spiral staircase.



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