- View of the BT Tower from Primrose Hill, in London, Sunday, March 29, 2020. The BT Tower, a futuristic landmark on the London skyline for 60 years, is to become a hotel, owner BT Group PLC said Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024.
(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
February 21, 2024Share
LONDON (AP) — The BT Tower, a futuristic landmark on the London skyline for 60 years, is to become a hotel, owner BT Group PLC said Wednesday.
The company, formerly known as British Telecom, said it has agreed to sell the tower to U.S. company MCR Hotels for 275 million pounds (about $347 million).
The 581-foot (177-meter) structure, originally called the Post Office Tower, was completed in 1964 and was London’s tallest building until 1980. A further section of aerial rigging brought the total height to 620 feet (189 meters).
The tower was covered in microwave aerials that carried communications across the U.K. and also housed a rotating restaurant with panoramic views across London.
The restaurant was closed after a 1971 bombing, claimed both by anarchists and the Irish Republican Army. It never fully reopened to the public, apart from special events and occasional tours.
Technological changes have gradually rendered the tower’s original role in Britain’s telecommunications network obsolete. Its microwave aerials were removed more than a decade ago.
“It’s played a vital role in carrying the nation’s calls, messages and TV signals, but increasingly we’re delivering content and communication via other means,” said Brent Mathews, property director at BT Group. “This deal with MCR will enable BT Tower to take on a new purpose, preserving this iconic building for decades to come.”
MCR Hotels owns about 150 hotels, including the New Yorker Hotel and the modernist TWA Hotel at New York’s JFK airport. The company said it would work with British architect Thomas Heatherwick on the hotel’s design.
However, travelers shouldn’t plan on making reservations just yet. The hotel firm said it will “take a number of years” for BT to move out due to the complex equipment on site.
Technological changes have gradually rendered the tower’s original role in Britain’s telecommunications network obsolete. Its microwave aerials were removed more than a decade ago.
“It’s played a vital role in carrying the nation’s calls, messages and TV signals, but increasingly we’re delivering content and communication via other means,” said Brent Mathews, property director at BT Group. “This deal with MCR will enable BT Tower to take on a new purpose, preserving this iconic building for decades to come.”
MCR Hotels owns about 150 hotels, including the New Yorker Hotel and the modernist TWA Hotel at New York’s JFK airport. The company said it would work with British architect Thomas Heatherwick on the hotel’s design.
However, travelers shouldn’t plan on making reservations just yet. The hotel firm said it will “take a number of years” for BT to move out due to the complex equipment on site.
The BT Tower, a Once-Futuristic London Landmark, Will Become a Hotel
The tower, once used to send telecom traffic, has been sold and will be transformed by the company that turned the TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport into a hotel.
But the architect Amanda Levete defended it, saying: “It was the first building with an observation deck — that way of engaging with the city was actually pioneered by the tower. It had a restaurant that wasn’t particularly expensive. High rises today are about exploiting the skyline for private gain.”
“It holds so much meaning in an elegant slender cylinder.”
Victor Mather covers sports as well as breaking news for The Times. More about Victor Mather
The tower, once used to send telecom traffic, has been sold and will be transformed by the company that turned the TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport into a hotel.
The BT Tower, which once carried telecommunications traffic between London and the rest of Britain, was sold to an American hotel group on Wednesday.
Credit...Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Image
By Victor Mather
Feb. 21, 2024
St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and the London Eye are all important landmarks in Britain’s capital. Yet you can’t spend the night in any of them.
But after another staple of the city’s skyline, the BT Tower, was sold to an American group on Wednesday, plans are afoot to turn it into a hotel: one that rises 581 feet (177 meters) above the ground.
“We will take our time to carefully develop proposals that respect the London landmark’s rich history and open the building for everyone to enjoy,” Tyler Morse, the chief executive of MCR Hotels, which bought the tower, said in a statement. The sale price was 275 million pounds ($346 million), the seller, BT Group, said in a statement.
MCR owns several notable hotels, including the TWA Hotel, which occupies the Eero Saarinen-designed former TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport, and the High Line Hotel in New York City, which was formerly a dormitory for the General Theological Seminary.
“We see many parallels between the TWA Hotel and the BT Tower,” Mr. Morse said. “Both are world-renowned, groundbreaking pieces of architecture.”
By Victor Mather
Feb. 21, 2024
St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and the London Eye are all important landmarks in Britain’s capital. Yet you can’t spend the night in any of them.
But after another staple of the city’s skyline, the BT Tower, was sold to an American group on Wednesday, plans are afoot to turn it into a hotel: one that rises 581 feet (177 meters) above the ground.
“We will take our time to carefully develop proposals that respect the London landmark’s rich history and open the building for everyone to enjoy,” Tyler Morse, the chief executive of MCR Hotels, which bought the tower, said in a statement. The sale price was 275 million pounds ($346 million), the seller, BT Group, said in a statement.
MCR owns several notable hotels, including the TWA Hotel, which occupies the Eero Saarinen-designed former TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport, and the High Line Hotel in New York City, which was formerly a dormitory for the General Theological Seminary.
“We see many parallels between the TWA Hotel and the BT Tower,” Mr. Morse said. “Both are world-renowned, groundbreaking pieces of architecture.”
Reginald Bevins, Britain’s postmaster general, with a model of the Post Office Tower, as it was initially known, in 1964, the year it was completed.
Credit...George Freston/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images
The structure, initially known as the Post Office Tower, was completed in 1964 in central London, just south of Regent’s Park. Standing 620 feet including its spire, it surpassed the Milbank Tower as the tallest building in London, though it was overtaken in 1980 by the NatWest Tower. (The Shard, at 1,016 feet, currently holds that title.)
It was designed to hold microwave aerials to carry telecommunications traffic between London and the rest of the country. The public could also visit Britain’s first revolving restaurant at the top.
The structure, initially known as the Post Office Tower, was completed in 1964 in central London, just south of Regent’s Park. Standing 620 feet including its spire, it surpassed the Milbank Tower as the tallest building in London, though it was overtaken in 1980 by the NatWest Tower. (The Shard, at 1,016 feet, currently holds that title.)
It was designed to hold microwave aerials to carry telecommunications traffic between London and the rest of the country. The public could also visit Britain’s first revolving restaurant at the top.
Not everyone believed that the tower was a beautiful addition to London’s skyline
Credit...David Cairns/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images
The tower was the target of a suspected I.R.A. bombing in 1971, although no one was hurt. It was closed to the public for security reasons starting in 1981.
Advances in technology eventually began to make elements of the tower obsolete. In 2011, the microwave dishes at the top, a distinctive aspect of the tower’s look, were removed.
“A number of network operations that were traditionally provided from BT Tower are now delivered via BT Group’s fixed and mobile networks,” BT Group said in its statement.
Don’t book a room just yet. “BT Group will take a number of years to vacate the premises, due to the scale and complexity of the work to move technical equipment, and there will be significant time for design development and engagement with local communities before proposals are revealed,” MCR said in a statement.
Although immediately recognizable to Londoners as well as frequent visitors, the tower was not necessarily a favorite for many. It was cited as one of the world’s “most hated buildings” alongside the Tour Montparnasse in Paris and the Empire State Plaza in Albany, N.Y., in a 2015 T Magazine article.
The tower was the target of a suspected I.R.A. bombing in 1971, although no one was hurt. It was closed to the public for security reasons starting in 1981.
Advances in technology eventually began to make elements of the tower obsolete. In 2011, the microwave dishes at the top, a distinctive aspect of the tower’s look, were removed.
“A number of network operations that were traditionally provided from BT Tower are now delivered via BT Group’s fixed and mobile networks,” BT Group said in its statement.
Don’t book a room just yet. “BT Group will take a number of years to vacate the premises, due to the scale and complexity of the work to move technical equipment, and there will be significant time for design development and engagement with local communities before proposals are revealed,” MCR said in a statement.
Although immediately recognizable to Londoners as well as frequent visitors, the tower was not necessarily a favorite for many. It was cited as one of the world’s “most hated buildings” alongside the Tour Montparnasse in Paris and the Empire State Plaza in Albany, N.Y., in a 2015 T Magazine article.
A display atop the BT Tower announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.Credit..
.Tristan Fewings/Getty Images
But the architect Amanda Levete defended it, saying: “It was the first building with an observation deck — that way of engaging with the city was actually pioneered by the tower. It had a restaurant that wasn’t particularly expensive. High rises today are about exploiting the skyline for private gain.”
“It holds so much meaning in an elegant slender cylinder.”
Victor Mather covers sports as well as breaking news for The Times. More about Victor Mather
No comments:
Post a Comment