MET Police Celebrate LGBT History Month

Here, Bishopsgate Police Station at 182 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4NP, illuminated with a rainbow flag.

Taken with Fuji x100v

Opened in 1939, it was designed by Messrs Vine and Vine, RIBA Architects, following a competition. It reflected the needs of the time and was considered so state of the art that a review was published in The Builder on 7 April 1939. This article gives us a glimpse of what the original building was like, as much development of it has taken place since. The building was built on a pre-existing and oddly-sized plot in the City. The width of the building and its frontage was only 55 feet (17 metres), while it stretched back 330 feet (just over 100 metres). The building was steel-framed, with thick concrete walls. The stairs and floors were made from reinforced concrete, and floors over the vital administrative units were crash-proof. This was in preparation for the upcoming war, in which it was believed that London would suffer from blanket bombing.

The facade was less utilitarian and faced with Portland Stone, with the plinth and piers between the ground floor windows made from Bluehill grey granite. The head above the main entrance is also made from the same granite – a single piece that weighs five and a half tonnes. The remainder of the exterior was finished with cream Gault brick, with white flush joints.

Bishopsgate Police Station was opened just a few months before the outbreak of the Second World War, and it was soon adapted to meet the challenges of the War and in particular, the Blitz. Officers’ families did not live there during the War and many officers found themselves sleeping overnight in the station, in offices and under desks. Famously, part of the basement was turned into a dark room for the police photographers Arthur Cross and Fred Tibbs, who took photographs of the City during the Blitz.

You can view the Cross and Tibbs Collection on Collage: London’s Picture Archive here:
https://www.londonpicturearchive.org.uk/collection?i=322297&WINID=1644007419818