{{Short description|Building in London, United Kingdom}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[Image:Express Building.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Black [[vitrolite]] panelling on the Daily Express Building]] The '''Daily Express Building''' (120 Fleet Street) is a [[listed building|Grade II* listed building]] located in [[Fleet Street]] in the [[City of London]]. It was designed in 1932 by Ellis and Clark to serve as the home of the ''[[Daily Express]]'' newspaper and is one of the most prominent examples of [[art-deco]] / [[Streamline Moderne]] architecture in [[London]].

The exterior features a black [[façade]] with rounded corners in [[vitrolite]] and clear glass, with [[chromium]] strips. The flamboyant [[Lobby (room)|lobby]], designed by [[Robert Atkinson (architect)|Robert Atkinson]], includes plaster reliefs by [[Eric Aumonier]], 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/betty-joel|title=Betty Joel|work=Answers.com}}</ref>

The Grade II* listing relates not only to the architectural features but also to the massive reinforced concrete stacked portal frame structure designed by Sir [[Owen Williams (engineer)|Owen Williams]].

As part of a redevelopment of the surrounding site the building was entirely refurbished in 2000 by [[John Robertson Architects]]. The foyer was recreated largely from photographs and the façade completely upgraded.<ref name="Gagg2011">{{cite book|first=Russell |last=Gagg|title=Basics Interior Architecture 05: Texture + Materials|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LW1MAQAAQBAJ|date=1 October 2011|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-2-940411-53-5|page=42}}</ref> The concrete portal frame structure was preserved.

The lobby of this building was open to the public on [[London Open House]] day, over the weekend of 19 and 20 September 2009. Members of the public were allowed to view the lobby, which is normally only accessible to employees of the building and invited guests.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-insider.co.uk/2009/09/a-typical-saturday-out-in-london/|title=A Typical Saturday out in London|date=20 September 2009|work=The London Insider|access-date=22 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115124754/http://www.london-insider.co.uk/2009/09/a-typical-saturday-out-in-london/|archive-date=15 November 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{|align=center |[[Image:Lobby, (former) Daily Express Building by Ronald Atkinson.jpg|thumb|180x250px|''"Britain"'' panel from the Daily Express building foyer]] || [[Image:Lobby, (former) Daily Express Building by Ronald Atkinson 2.jpg|thumb|180x250px|''"Empire"'' panel from the Daily Express building foyer]] || [[Image:Lobby Ceiling, Daily Express building.jpg|thumb|200x250px|The aluminium leaf recessed ceiling and pendant lamp]] |}

The building is currently occupied by [[Goldman Sachs]].

== Sister Express buildings in Manchester and Glasgow == The company also constructed two sister buildings of similar design during this period. The [[Daily Express Building, Manchester|Express Building, Manchester]] (1939) was critically acclaimed as the best of the three due to its superior exterior design and better site and was the only one of the three to be architecturally designed by Sir [[Owen Williams (engineer)|Owen Williams]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prideofmanchester.com/architecture/best.htm|title=The Best Architecture in Manchester|work=prideofmanchester.com}}</ref> The 1936 building in [[Glasgow]] housed the offices of the ''[[Glasgow Herald]]'' and ''[[Evening Times]]'' newspapers from 1980 to circa 2000, but has now been converted into flats.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/140994/details/glasgow+159+195+albion+street+daily+express+building/|title=Glasgow, 159-195 Albion Street, Daily Express Building|publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland|accessdate=2015-04-13}}</ref>

== In the media == The building, the paper and its best remembered editor, [[Arthur Christiansen]] (who in reality had already relinquished the role), featured in the British science fiction film ''[[The Day the Earth Caught Fire]]'' (1961), in which actors [[Edward Judd]] and [[Leo McKern]] have leading roles. The satirical magazine ''[[Private Eye]]'' invariably referred to the building, in the days when it was occupied by the ''Daily Express'', as 'The Black [[Lubyanka Building|Lubyanka]]'.

== References == {{Commons category|Daily Express Building, London}} {{reflist}} {{coord|51.5144|-0.1060|type:landmark_region:GB-LND|display=title}}

{{Express newspapers}}

[[Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1932]] [[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in the City of London]] [[Category:Art Deco architecture in London]] [[Category:Daily Express|Building, London]] [[Category:Newspaper headquarters in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Streamline Moderne architecture]] [[Category:Streamline Moderne architecture in the United Kingdom]]