{"id":763998,"date":"2026-09-08T13:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/763998\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T13:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T13:54:13","slug":"terry-farrells-innovative-and-heroic-embankment-place-given-grade-ii-listing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/763998\/","title":{"rendered":"Terry Farrell\u2019s \u2018innovative and heroic\u2019 Embankment Place given Grade II listing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 35-year-old Thameside landmark was listed yesterday (7 September) on Historic England\u2019s recommendation to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.<\/p>\n

Last month Hopkins Architects lodged a planning application for a \u2018transformative\u2019 retrofit<\/a> of the building.<\/p>\n

In its reasons for listing, Historic England noted the building\u2019s \u2018heroic formal imagery\u2019 of stepped arches and towers above the railway tracks, which offered \u2018a memorable addition to this internationally-recognised stretch of the River Thames and London\u2019s cityscape\u2019.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s heritage watchdog added that 1 Embankment Place warranted listing because of its \u2018innovative structural programme\u2019 of suspended and cantilevering flooring, which made the structure \u2018one of the most prominent and architecturally ambitious of London\u2019s air rights developments\u2019.<\/p>\n

It added: \u2018As a key work by Sir Terry Farrell; executed in his characteristically creative Postmodern mode, it is one of the most important realisations of his skill as an architect and urbanist, for which he was knighted.\u2019<\/p>\n

In the AJ Buildings Library<\/p>\n

In May, the Twentieth Century Society called for the building\u2019s Grade II*listing<\/a> as part of a consultation launched by Historic England after the owner applied for a certificate of immunity from listing (COI).<\/p>\n

The society\u2019s campaigns director, Oli Marshall, argued that the building was \u2018undoubtedly the most successful\u2019 of London\u2019s air rights buildings and was conceived as a \u2018palace on the river\u2019 and still holds its own among the family of monumental buildings lining the Thames, including the Palace of Westminster, Shell Mex House, the Savoy and Somerset House.<\/p>\n

Responding to the listing decision, the society said Farrell was \u2018now widely acknowledged as a highly significant British architect of the post-Second World War period\u2019 and that 1 Embankment Place could be \u2018seen as the most significant of Farrell\u2019s three \u201cGrand Projet\u201d large-scale London commissions during the late 1980s and early 90s \u2013 Alban Gate in the City of London and the SIS (MI6) Building at Vauxhall Cross being the other two.\u2019<\/p>\n

But the society expressed disappointment that the Villiers Street elevation and elements of the building\u2019s underpass were not included in the listing.<\/p>\n

The AJ understands that proposals drawn up by Hopkins to sensitively refurbish the structure \u2013 working with the late architect\u2019s son, Max Farrell, a former partner at Farrells \u2013 had been due to go before Westminster City Council\u2019s planning committee soon. It is unclear whether the listing will delay the planning process.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hopkins\u2019 proposals for 1 Embankment Place (March 2026)<\/p>\n

Source: Hopkins<\/p>\n

Hopkins\u2019 plans for London developer Bridgemont involve modernising the office space used by insurance giant PwC. They include replacing the fa\u00e7ade on the side of the building facing Villiers Street, installing brick vaults at ground level, and adding new shops along the street, and a glass fa\u00e7ade above.<\/p>\n

Other proposed changes include energy efficiency improvements to the 35-year-old building to \u2018ensure the building remains attractive to world-leading occupiers and an improved public experience\u2019.<\/p>\n

The \u2018retrofit-first\u2019 project was announced last November, shortly after Terry Farrell\u2019s death<\/a> last September at the age of 87.<\/p>\n

PwC has been the sole occupier of the building, designed by Farrells with structural engineer Arup, since 1991.<\/p>\n

Hopkins has been approached for comment,<\/p>\n

Terry Farrell\u2019s other listed buildings<\/p>\n

Blackwall Tunnel Vent Shafts, 1967: Grade II (LCC Architects\u2019 Dept)
\n125 Park Road, Westminster, 1968-70: Grade II (Farrell\/Grimshaw Partnership)
\nThe Herman Miller Factory, Bath, 1976-77: Grade II (Farrell\/Grimshaw Partnership)
\nCosmic House, Kensington & Chelsea, 1979-85: Grade I
\nComyn Ching Triangle, Camden, 1983-85: Grade II
\nHenley Royal Regatta HQ, Oxfordshire, 1986: Grade II<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 35-year-old Thameside landmark was listed yesterday (7 September) on Historic England\u2019s recommendation to the Department for Culture,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,151067,76489,76488,102737,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-763998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-listing","tag-postmodernism","tag-terry-farrell","tag-twentieth-century-society","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}