Remember the year 1966. Centre Point Tower was completed. Here we stand before a true London icon. It is a skyscraper that has a story as complex as the city itself.
Centre Point’s story starts in the early 1960s. London was booming. Property speculator Harry Hyams envisioned a grand commercial office block. He commissioned R. Seifert and Partners to design it. George Marsh was the architect. Wimpey Construction built it from 1963 to 1966. The cost was £5.5 million. That sounds like a steal today.
The building’s design is modernist. Its concrete grid facades are unique. Precast segments were made of fine concrete. Crushed Portland stone was used. These were made by Portcrete Limited. They were transported from Portland, Dorset, by lorry.
Hyams intended to rent the whole building to a single tenant. However, Centre Point stood empty for years. It became known as “London’s Empty Skyscraper”. Property prices rose. Hyams could afford to wait for his price of £1,250,000. He refused to rent single floors.
This vacancy became a symbol of housing inequality. In 1969, a homeless charity was founded nearby. It was named Centrepoint. This was in response to Centre Point being empty. It felt like an affront to the homeless.
In 1974, activists occupied Centre Point. They wanted to highlight the housing crisis. Two occupiers even got jobs with the security company. They let the other protesters in. The occupation lasted a weekend.
From 1980 to 2014, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) was headquartered here. They were Centre Point’s longest-standing tenant.
In 2005, Targetfollow bought Centre Point for £85 million. It was extensively refurbished. In 2009, tenants included William Morris and Aramco. PetroChina and EA Games also occupied space.
Almacantar later purchased Centre Point. They converted it to residential flats in 2015. The restoration was finished in 2018. But like its original opening, it remained partly empty. This led to it being called one of London’s “ghost towers”.
Centre Point stands 117 meters tall. That is 385 feet. It has 34 floors. It was one of London’s first skyscrapers.
But there is more to Centre Point than just height. Its location is historically significant. The site was once occupied by a gallows. The tower sits over the former route of St Giles High Street. The street was re-routed for construction.
Centre Point has also appeared in popular culture. It is featured in the 1977 horror film The Medusa Touch. A Boeing 747 crashes into it. It is also seen in 28 Days Later. Neil Gaiman’s character camps on top of Centre Point in Neverwhere.
Nikolaus Pevsner called Centre Point “coarse in the extreme”. Yet, it became a Grade II listed building in 1995. In 2009, it won the Concrete Society’s Mature Structures Award.
Today, Centre Point is a mix of luxury apartments and public spaces. St Giles Square is at its base. Here you can find shops and restaurants. The transformation of Centre Point reflects London’s ever-changing character. It bridges the past and the future.