Colonel Seifert's Tallest Tower
Here's a film (split into two parts) covering the official royal launch of NatWest Tower (now Tower 42) on June 11th 1981. The tower had already been occupied by the National Westminster Bank since the previous year, and construction by Mowlem had begun back in 1971, though Seifert's design dated all the way back to 1964. At 47 storeys and 183m tall it was at the time the tallest building in Britain.
In many ways the brown glass and vertical striped facade of Tower 42 follows that of Seifert's early seventies King's Reach Tower near Blackfriars on the South Bank of the Thames, which is in the process of being extended, reclad and rebranded as, originally, the South Bank Tower.
This film has some great footage of the tower being constructed, and the eulogising of Colonel Seifert while HMQ hung around waiting to do her bit must have surely been a high point (geddit?) in the old boy's career.
In many ways the brown glass and vertical striped facade of Tower 42 follows that of Seifert's early seventies King's Reach Tower near Blackfriars on the South Bank of the Thames, which is in the process of being extended, reclad and rebranded as, originally, the South Bank Tower.
This film has some great footage of the tower being constructed, and the eulogising of Colonel Seifert while HMQ hung around waiting to do her bit must have surely been a high point (geddit?) in the old boy's career.
Comments
Post a Comment