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When Broadcasting
House, London entered service in 1932 the BBC published a book of photographs of the building
called "Broadcasting House". Its pictures give us not only a view of the studios and other
technical areas but also of many other parts of the building. A corridor, a staircase, a
dressing room, the boiler room and the ventilation plant were all considered worth recording
just as much as the Control Room, the Concert Hall or the Chapel Studio (3E).In addition to this volume, a further book ("A Technical Description of Broadcasting House") detailed various technical aspects of the new building. From this we can attempt to work out just how the broadcasting system worked from microphones to the lines to the transmitters.
These books can still be found in second-hand bookshops and are well worth seeking out, though the technical one can be hard to find. So this site is an attempt to make their content more easily accessible.
In these web pages you can find most of the photos from the books together with some extra photos from the 1930s. The first volume worked through the building floor by floor and a similar arrangement has been used here. Each link to a 'floor' will open a page featuring a simplified floor plan and the menu to the left of the screen will offer one or more extra pages featuring the photos of the various areas on that floor. You can also navigate by clicking on the grey areas of the floor plans. The amount of technical information on these pages has been kept to a minimum.
For more detailed information about the studios and the
Control Room, refer to the final 'Technical' section. Here you will find several diagrams
reconstructed from the originals in the technical book and notes describing the broadcast
chain in detail. My thanks to Barry Taylor for his significant contribution to this section.Most of what appears on these pages had gone by the end of the twentieth century. The building underwent a major reconstruction in the early years of the twenty-first, being officially re-opened by the Queen in April 2006.
Roger Beckwith.
If you can supply more information about the early years of BH or wish to comment on this site, you can email me by clicking here.
Sources of information used:-
- "Broadcasting House" (BBC, 1932)
- "A Technical Description of Broadcasting House" (BBC, 1932)
- BBC Handbook (BBC, 1933)
- Briggs, Asa: "The Golden Age of Wireless" (OUP, 1965)
- Brooker, F. C.: Engineering Division Training Manual (BBC, 1942)
- Lyons, R. S.: "Wonders of Modern Industry" (Blackie & Son Ltd, 1939)
- Pawley, Edward: "BBC Engineering 1922-1972" (BBC, 1972)
- Reid, Colin: "Action Stations - A History of Broadcasting House" (Robson Books, 1987)
- "The Modern Boy's Book of Engineering" (Amalgamated Press, c.1936)
- "Wireless World" magazine
This is not an official site, and is not created or endorsed by the BBC. The compiler's hope is that any infringement of copyright will be forgiven in the interests of making available a record of the early days of an important building. He trusts that any unintended breach of copyright will be notified to him so that due acknowledgement can be made or the copyright material removed.
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