The Design
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Mondial House was an ambitious building project both in terms of size and complexity. It was originally conceived as a 15-20 storey tower block and podium, but as with most of the riverside sites in Central London, the final design had to ensure that views of St. Paul's Cathedral remained unobstructed. The end result was a ziggurat (step-back) design of 12 storeys - the 8 above ground reaching a height of 46 metres. |
POEU March 1970: "The building will be called Mondial House ("mondial": world-wide). The building will incorporate a riverside promenade, public walkways at first floor level and a fire station [Dowgate] fronting on to Upper Thames Street to meet the requirements of the Greater London Council and the City of London."
Mondial House was originally conceived as a 15-20 storey tower block and podium, but as with most of the riverside sites in Central London, the final design had to ensure that views of St. Paul's Cathedral remained unobstructed. The end result was a ziggurat (step-back) design of 12 storeys - the 8 above ground reaching a height of 46 metres.
A Landmark in The City
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Gleaming in the sun, a 1979 view of Mondial House living up to its reputation of being 'A Landmark in the City'. Not exactly a building you could fail to notice! |
| The GRP Cladding | |
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A vast expanse of concrete clad in glass reinforced plastic. "GRP cladding is a flat dense glass reinforced polyester sheet which is easy to clean and fix." |
| The Concrete Detailing | |
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Although much of the structure was hidden underneath the white plastic cladding, certain features such as the 'M O N D I A L H O U S E' lettering served to celebrate that this was a concrete building! |
| The Public Walkways | |
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"The building will incorporate a riverside promenade and public walkways at first floor level" |
| The Cooling Pods | |
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This photo shows the six cooling pods which housed the radiators for the standby generators which were installed in the sub basement levels. The cooling pods were one of the unique design elements which gave the impression of a 'working building' rather than simply a boring office space! |
| A Word Processor? | |
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Prince Charles: "As you continue down the river (Thames), it is poignant that you can only just glimpse Wren's Monument to the Great Fire as you pass the dreadful Mondial House. To me this building is redolent of a word processor. I don't see that people particularly want a perpetual view of a word processor when they find themselves living with them all the time in the office or at home". |
Thanks to Guildhall Library, City of London.
Photographers: LSA, utgarthr, Kim Laughton, Leon Baird and Rob Telford.
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