British Medical Association House Including Screen And Gates

This is the administrative headquarters of the British Medical Association with rented offices, begun by Sir Edwin Lutyens as the headquarters and temple of the Theosophical Society but never completed to his original design. The building was constructed in several phases: 1913-14 and 1923-25 by Sir Edwin Lutyens (east courtyard and elevation to Burton Street); 1928-9 by Cyril Wontner Smith (central entrance block to Tavistock Square and blocks extending eastwards to form the west courtyard); 1938-49 by Douglas Wood (flanking blocks to entrance); and the south extension of 1947-50 (the Nuffield Wing), also by Wood, with a further extension on the north-east of 1959-60. The building contains re-used fittings from the previous BMA headquarters at 429 The Strand, built by Percy Adams and Charles Holden in 1908.

Construction and Materials

The building has steel-frame construction with red brick laid in English bond, Portland stone dressings and green Westmorland slate roofs. The windows are timber sashes with glazing bars.

South-West Elevation to Tavistock Square

The central entrance block by Wontner Smith comprises a centre bay and two slightly projecting bays. It has four storeys, attics and a basement. The ground floor is Portland stone with three round-arched openings with keystones and impost bands to each bay. The central opening has a vaulted porte-cochère, flanked by lower pedestrian passageways to the courtyard. Above is a plain stone first-floor band. The centre bay has distyle-in-antis attached Corinthian columns (brick shafts, stone capitals) rising from the first to fourth floor and supporting a modillion entablature with an open segmental pediment, flanked by architraved sashes with keystones in the attic storey. Above the vehicle entrance is a tall architraved sash with a bracketed pediment surmounted by a cartouche, a small architraved sash with a keystone and a keyed oculus in the pediment. A cornice runs at eaves level and the hipped roof conceals two tall moulded brick slab chimney-stacks.

The flanking bays have similar columns and entablature. The architraved first-floor windows have balustraded balconies and bracketed segmental pediments; the second and third floors have architraved sashes with an oculus in the attic storeys. Cornices run at eaves level and the bays have hipped roofs. The courtyard facade is similar to the centre bay but flanked by extra bays with two brick pilasters and narrow architraved sashes.

The attached blocks forming the western courtyard have four storeys with stone ground floors featuring two-light round-arched openings. A plain first-floor sill band runs across the facade. The architraved sashes on the first floor have alternating segmental and triangular pediments with balustraded window guards. A stone entablature sits at fourth-floor level with architraved attic windows with keystones, above which is a stone cornice. The eastern elevations have brick chimney-stacks rising from the first floor.

Douglas Wood's extension blocks of 1938-49, flanking the entrance, comprise three bays and two storeys each, plus two-bay, four-storey pavilions. The stone ground floors have square-headed, square pillar arcading and two square-headed, metal-framed windows to each bay. A stone-capped parapet runs at first-floor level. Square-headed architraved sashes sit in each bay on the first floor, above which runs the cornice and a stone-capped parapet. Each pavilion has a slightly projecting stone entrance surround with impost bands, fanlight and two-leaf wooden doors. Above is a tall architraved sash with a bracketed pediment and balustraded balcony flanked by similar columns and entablature to the central entrance. A cornice runs at eaves level and the pavilions have hipped roofs.

Wood's red brick Nuffield Wing joins on to the southern extension. It has three storeys with a single-storey bay to the north. The elegant red brick facade is in a restrained Baroque style, with a concave section of five bays to the north framed by pilasters. The ground floor has horizontal rustication and a parapet with recessed panels.

East Courtyard

The wings to the north, south and east of this courtyard are the original block designed by Lutyens. The west facade is in 'Wrenaissance' style with three storeys and five bays. The Portland stone-faced ground floor has round-arched openings linked by impost bands, except those flanking the central entrance which are square-headed. All have keystones. Hexastyle-in-antis stone Corinthian columns rise from the first to second floor supporting a modillion pediment with a clock in the tympanum. The entablature continues one bay each side, supported at the angles by Corinthian pilasters. Each bay has an architraved sash with a bracketed pediment. Small architraved sashes with keystones sit in the attic storey with a stone cornice.

The north and south blocks, forming the sides of the courtyard, are similar to those of the western courtyard. The east facade to Burton Place is a handsome elevation in the manner of a Renaissance palazzo. It has two storeys and seven windows, framed by pilasters. The round-arched ground-floor openings are of two lights with stone architraves, soffits and keystones, linked by impost bands. The centre opening has two-leaf doors and a fanlight. A plain stone band and stone string run at first-floor level with carved stone shell motifs above each keystone. The tall piano nobile has large square-headed architraved windows with alternating triangular and segmental pediments. The central window has a bracketed cornice surmounted by a multi-layer feature of rectangular blocks. A projecting stone cornice caps the elevation. The pilaster capitals and a stone tablet above the central first-floor window were left uncarved as boasted work. The adjacent block to the north of this is by Douglas Wood in an austere neo-Georgian style and is of lesser interest.

Interior

Much of the interior is now modern offices. Interiors of note include the Great Hall (intended as the Theosophist's temple), occupying the entire length of the first-floor Lutyens east courtyard block. This was subdivided by the insertion of a floor in 1985 to provide a library with offices. The hall has five bays with aisles; the frieze at dado height has a series of roundels. Marble columns with Corinthian capitals support the entablature; a beamed comparted ceiling was inserted above cornice level. Above this is the barrel-vaulted ceiling, of which only the coffered end bays were finished.

The Hastings Room, originally planned by Lutyens as a library, contains mahogany panelling and a colonnaded screen. The chimneypieces have mahogany timber overmantels, marble slips and decorative tiled insets. Some of these features are understood to have been moved here in 1928-9 from the former BMA headquarters at 429 The Strand, designed by Percy Adams and Charles Holden. The Council Chamber, on the south side of the main courtyard, also has panelling from the Strand building. It has a coved ceiling and round-headed windows with imposts linked to the cornice.

The entrance hall to the right of Wontner-Smith's main gateway has mahogany Tuscan columns, a cornice and doors with segmental pediments. The Prince's Room is a square chamber above the main gateway with a recess to the corner with Corinthian columns and entablature. It has decorative window architraves and a neo-Georgian chimneypiece with marble bolection moulding and a lugged timber surround with a mirrored overmantel to match the windows. Most of these rooms have been altered.

Subsidiary Features

The east and west courtyards are separated by Lutyens' intricate wrought-iron war memorial screen and gates, opened on 13 July 1925 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The plaque over the main gates is inscribed on the west side 'Memory and Praise', and on the east side: 'Faithful have been your warfare'. Statues of Sacrifice, Cure, Prevention and Aspiration of 1952 by J Woodford and S Rowland Pierce form a Second World War memorial.

A small southern courtyard, The Council Garden, lies between the southern wing of Lutyens' building and the Nuffield Wing. It contains a garden with an oval pool, set beneath a curved retaining wall built in red brick with stone steps and coping. The garden design is attributed to Lutyens, but this has not been established and evidence suggests that it post-dates his involvement. A plaque to Charles Dickens is surrounded by bricks from his home on the site. Parapet stones from BMA House form a wall to a planting bed and are inscribed to commemorate the air raid of 16 April 1940 which damaged the buildings.

Historical Context

The building was originally designed by Lutyens as the headquarters and temple of the Theosophical Society, incorporating offices for commercial rental. Lutyens' wife Emily had become a follower of the Theosophists. Construction began in 1913 and ceased in 1914 when the uncompleted shell was commandeered by the Army Pay Office, which fitted out parts of the interior as offices. It is unclear whether the Theosophists ever used the building. After the war ended, the Theosophists had run out of funds. The BMA, founded 1832, bought the lease in 1923 and engaged Lutyens to complete the interior, principally the Great Hall. Wontner-Smith was engaged in 1927 to complete the western part of the building, facing Tavistock Square. The building subsequently expanded as membership increased and to provide income from letting.

This is a fine, albeit incomplete, example of Lutyens' earlier work in the neo-classical idiom. The later additions by Wontner-Smith and Wood, which form the majority of the building, are dignified and well-detailed; the whole ensemble represents a distinguished and coherent complex of multi-phase buildings. It is of historic interest as the headquarters of the BMA since 1925.