The Bella Freud Apartment

Television Centre was built on the site of the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908. A large public fair, its intricate white buildings and waterways gave rise to the area’s name of White City. The exhibition attracted around eight million visitors, and was constructed to celebrate the signing of the Entente Cordiale, an agreement of cooperation that marked the end of nearly a thousand years of conflict.

Television Centre was commissioned in 1949 with work starting in 1950. The original design was by Graham Dawbarn CBE (Norman and Dawbarn Architects). Although an earlier concept proposed a circular form, Dawbarn, while pondering the design of the building, drew a question mark on an envelope (now held by the BBC Written Archives Centre), and thus the shape of the 14-acre site was born as it appears from overhead. Following years of staggered construction BBC Television Centre officially opened in June of 1960.

For decades Television Centre stood as a cultural icon, a landmark piece of modern architecture, and a creative beacon for the nation’s broadcasting.

On 17 June 2009 the Central Ring of the building and Studio One, noting in particular the John Piper mosaic, mosaic-tiled central drum, gilded-bronze statue of Helios by TB Huxley-Jones, full-height glazing of the incredible Helios staircase and the original clock in the Central Ring, received Grade II listed status from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.