Former Glasgow Herald Office is a Grade II listed building in the City of London local planning authority area, England. First listed on 15 August 1997. Former office. 4 related planning applications.
Former Glasgow Herald Office
- WRENN ID
- haunted-bronze-rain
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- City of London
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 15 August 1997
- Type
- Former office
- Address
- Former Glasgow Herald Office, 56 and 57, Fleet Street, City and County of the City of London, EC4Y 1JU
- OS grid reference
- TQ 313 811
- Coordinates
- 51.51407, -0.1084
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The former Glasgow Herald Office, located at 56 and 57 Fleet Street, was built in 1927 and designed by Percy Tubbs, with assistance from C. W. Dyson Smith for the stone and bronze work. The building features stone and polished granite, along with gilded bronze elements, and has a parapetted roof.
This six-storey structure has a narrow front that reflects the influence of the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, combining Greek Revival and Moderne styles. The ground floor is clad in polished granite and adorned with a gilded bronze frieze depicting a frozen fountain motif. The first to third floors are designed as an inset segmental bay made of metal, featuring coved jambs and a fretted hood moulding with lion masks above. The bay contains three windows, each separated by full-height risers, with stylized egg and dart moulding on the lintels and fluted spandrels. The bay culminates in a cornice, while the smooth walls on either side of the inset highlight the architectural interest created by the contrast between the blank wall and the carefully placed details.
On the fourth floor, there are three unmoulded flat-arched windows, each flanked by fasces that appear to hang from an implied entablature formed by recessed panels. The cornice above features shallow mutules and egg and dart detailing, punctuated by six decorative bosses. At the top of the building, a two-storey roof projection includes louvres and three slotted openings, framed by an Egyptian-styled pediment. The sides and corners of this projection are treated with banded rustication and a slight batter, giving it an almost Mayan appearance.
Local climate
Former Glasgow Herald Office sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 4 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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