The Daily Express Building (also known as 120 Fleet Street) is a Grade II* listed building located in Fleet Street

Fleet Street

Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...

 in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

. It was built in 1932 by Sir Owen Williams to serve as the home of the Daily Express

Daily Express

The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...

newspaper and is one of the most prominent examples of art-deco architecture in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

The exterior features a black façade

Facade

A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....

 with rounded corners in vitrolite

Vitrolite

Vitrolite was an opaque pigmented glass manufactured by Pilkington Brothers in the United Kingdom and The Vitrolite Company then Libbey Owens Ford in the United States...

 and clear glass, with chromium

Chromium

Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...

 strips. The flamboyant lobby

Lobby (room)

A lobby is a room in a building which is used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer or an entrance hall.Many office buildings, hotels and skyscrapers go to great lengths to decorate their lobbies to create the right impression....

, designed by Robert Atkinson

Robert Atkinson (architect)

Robert Atkinson, OBE was an English architect primarily working in the Art Deco style.Atkinson was born in Wigton, Cumberland and studied at University College, Nottingham before studying abroad in Paris, Italy and America. He was a talented draughtsman and worked for C.E. Mallows from 1905...

, includes plaster reliefs by Eric Aumonier

Eric Aumonier

-Life:Aumonier was born in Northwood, Middlesex . his family name is Huguenot . Eric's grandfather, William, founded the Aumonier Studios in 1876, an architectural sculpture firm in London, initially located at New Inn Yard off Tottenham Court Road, then at 84 Charlotte Street. His son, also called...

, silver and gilt decorations, a magnificent silvered pendant lamp and an oval staircase. The furniture inside the building was, for the most part, designed by Betty Joel .

The lobby of this building was open to the public on London Open House day, over the 19 and 20 September 2009 weekend. Members of the public were allowed to view the lobby, which is normally off-limits apart from employees of the building and invited guests.




The building is currently occupied by Goldman Sachs.

The Building in the Media

In 1961 the building, the paper and its most famous editor, Arthur Christiansen

Arthur Christiansen

Arthur Christiansen was a journalist, and editor of Lord Beaverbrook's newspaper the Daily Express from 1933 to 1957....

, starred in the British science fiction film The Day the Earth Caught Fire

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

The Day the Earth Caught Fire is a British science fiction disaster film starring Edward Judd, Leo McKern and Janet Munro. It was directed by Val Guest and released in 1961....

, featuring a young Michael Caine

Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....

.
The magazine Private Eye

Private Eye

Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...

invariably referred to the building, in the days when it was occupied by the Daily Express, as 'The Black Lubyanka'.