Aldwych

Coordinates: 51°30′48″N 0°07′00″W / 51.5132°N 0.1167°W / 51.5132; -0.1167

Aldwych (pronounced /ˈɔːldwɪtʃ/) is a one-way street and also the name of the area immediately surrounding the street, in the City of Westminster in London. The short street is situated 0.6 miles (1 km) north-east of Charing Cross and forms part of the A4 route from London to Avonmouth, Bristol.

The Aldwych area forms part of the Northbank business improvement district. It is known for a number of notable sites and for giving its name to a closed Underground station nearby, which has been used as a filming location in numerous films and television shows.

Overview

Aldwych, the street, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. It forms part of the A4 route and carries traffic in a one-way eastbound direction. Streets adjoining Aldwych include Drury Lane, Kingsway, India Place and Melbourne Place. Notable buildings along its length include:

Television House

Television House, on Kingsway in London was, from 1955, the London headquarters of Associated-Rediffusion, Independent Television News (ITN), TV Times magazine, the Independent Television Companies Association and, at first, Associated TeleVision. It was later the headquarters of 'Rediffusion, London' and its successor, Thames Television.

History

Adastral House

The Kingsway area had been redeveloped at the start of the 20th century from slums and tenement housing into a broad avenue with grand office buildings and expensive town houses.

After the formation of the Air Ministry in 1918, its headquarters was on Kingsway; one of two identical buildings opposite Bush House became Adastral House. This remained the home of the Air Ministry through World War II. It became famous after the war because the central London temperatures and wind speeds were measured from its roof by the Met Office, and announced as such during the BBC weather forecasts.

Television House

In 1954, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) awarded the first two contracts for the new ITV commercial television system. Because the BBC had previously held a monopoly on broadcasting, there were no non-BBC television studio facilities in the UK. Associated-Rediffusion, as one of the two contractors, needed to build from scratch a whole new facility. The company had hired Thomas Brownrigg as General Manager, partially due to his extensive knowledge of planning and project management, which would be needed in simultaneously building a new company and its studios and headquarters.