lounge

Sixth Floor

6th floor diagram
Desk with a floating microphone; behind, a double-storey circular set of windows bowing inwards
41 ❧ Studio 6D, the main Effects Studio, occupying a depth of two floors, showing the Gramophone Effects Studio, 6E, through the bow-window. The table in the foreground is divided into six surface sections, each with a different finish to enable various sounds to be reproduced by friction.
View through the bowed window out into the studio
42 ❧ Another view of the Effects Studio, 6D, as seen through the window of the Gramophone Effects Studio, 6E.
A curved desk with 6 turntables
43 ❧ Studio 6E, Gramophone Effects. Studio 7E, another similar Gramophone Studio, is directly above it. This photograph is by Shaw Wildman.
A short carpeted corridor
44 ❧ A Corridor in the 'Tower' in the Productions Group of studios on the sixth floor, showing the entrance to a small alcove Lounge on the right.
A sofa and a rounded shelving unit
45 ❧ The Lounge, the entrance to which is shown on the right of the previous picture.
A very long bank of batteries
46 ❧ Part of the Control Room Battery Room. The battery in the foreground supplies currect to operate the relay-switches and signal-lights in the Control Room.
A very long line of what look like very large car batteries
47 ❧ Storage Batteries for the high tension supply to the Amplifiers in the Control Room.
Generators and switchgear
48 ❧ Motor-Generators and Switchgear: for charging the Control Room Batteries.

Third Floor

Diagram of the third floor
A room with alcoves - one bright - desks and chairs and a large clock
58 ❧ Studio 3E for Religious Services, looking toward the central recess, lighted so as to produce an effect of infinite distance. On secular occasions the recess contains a vase of flowers; for religious services the shadow of a cross is projected on to the white background.

59 ❧ Statue of St. George, which occupies a niche to the left of the grand piano in the picture above. It is the work of Mr. Vernon Hill.

A stylised sculpture of a man
A tall room with a piano, desk and many chairs
60 ❧ Studio 3E, looking towards the balcony. The table in the right foreground is for the use of choirs engaged in the services. Photograph by Arthur Gill.
A tall empty room
61 ❧ Studio 3A, where the Children's Hour is conducted. The window at the top is that of the Silence Room shown later.
A cozy room with a curtained window, rugs, a desk and a mantleshelf.
62 ❧ Studio 3B, for Talks.
A colour picture of a cozy carpeted room with a bookcase, a curtained window, a round table and two easy chairs
63 ❧ Studio 3D, for Talks.
A room with a dummy fireplace, bookcases, ornaments and a round table with a microphone and a book stand
64 ❧ Another view. There are three Talks Studios; this one is designed to give the talker the feeling of being in a study or library. Note the picture of George Washington over the fireplace, indicating the use of this studio for some of the special talks to America. The chair used in this studio is one in which the late Mr. Arnold Bennett wrote many of his works. The Colour Plate shows another view, that looking towards the 'window'.
A curtained room with a rug, a sofa, a chair, a standard lamp and a free-standing ashtray
65 ❧ The Third Floor Waiting Room Lounge, attached to the Talks Studios.
A small room with a chair, a desk and a microphone
66 ❧ The Silence Room, attached to Studio 3A, where announcements can be made (e.g. during a change of programme) without the necessity of enforcing silence in the studio.
A office with a fitted desk with two telephones surrounded by 5 chairs in 3 different styles
67 ❧ The Chairman's Office.
A room with wooden walls, a fireplace and an ornate desk with one commanding chair and one basic chair
68 ❧ The Director-General's Office.
A busy office with men and women working around double-sided desks
69 ❧ One of the Accounts Offices.

Lower Ground Floor

Diagram of the lower ground floor
A large theatre-like space
87 ❧ The Concert Hall, looking towards the platform. This and the next photograph are by S. W. Newbery.
A large theatre-like space
88 ❧ The Concert Hall, taken from the stage, looking towards the gallery, and showing the seating accommodation for 538 people in addition to a full symphony orchestra. The microphone is seen suspended in the middle.

89 ❧ The six Friezes on the Western Wall of the Concert Hall, forming horizontal panels under the rectangular lights. The carvings are of classical scenes representing Poetry, Dancing, a Ball Game, a Sacrifice, a Foot Race, and Music. The sculptor, Mr. Gilbert Bayes, is to produce a further six reliefs, with modern subjects, for the opposite wall.

Frieze: Poetry
Pegasus unseals the spring of Poetry.
Frieze: Dance
'Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!' – Keats, Ode to a Nightingale
Frieze: Ball
Odysseus watches Nausicaa and her companions at a game of Ball.
Frieze: Sacrifice
'Who are these coming to the Sacrifice?' – Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn
Frieze: Foot-race
Milanion Conquers Atalanta in the Foot-race,
Frieze: music
'Naught so stockish hard and full of rage
But Music for a time doth change its nature.' – Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
The balcony with a large clock
90 ❧ The Balcony of the Concert Hall.
A view of a comfortable chair through some curtains
91 ❧ The Green Room, for the Conductors and Artists using the Concert Hall.
A semi-transparent clock with lines springing up from the bottom
92 ❧ The Green Room Clock.

Sub Basement

Diagram of the sub-basement
Looking down into a studio with a sofa and a piano
103 ❧ Vaudeville Studio BA. General view, showing the stage in front of the 'wings', the floor space where the orchestra is normally accommodated, and the seating for the audience at the back.
A view across a studio, with a large circular central light and a curved balcony
104 ❧ The Vaudeville Studio BA. A view taken from the back of the stage, looking across towards a corner of the balcony. Note the collapsible black screens at the sides of the stage, which are intended to be drawn out to form 'wings'. The prevalent colouring of the decorations is grey blue, lemon yellow, and pale red.
Upholstered chairs with steel frames
105 ❧ The Steel Chairs.
Looking down into studio with a piano and a very large illuminated clock
106 ❧ Studio BB, normally used by the B.B.C. Dance Orchestra.
A curved room with a black shiny wall and a washbasin
107 ❧ Artists' Dressing Room for Women. Intended for artists broadcasting from the Vaudeville Studio. The back wall is of black glass which is reflected in the mirrors on the side walls.
Looking in through a door at a curved shelving unit and a fitted sofa along the back wall
108 ❧ The Lounge for Studio BA and BB.
Pipes emerge from solid bases with large gauges
109 ❧ Corner of the Boiler Room, showing hot-water circulating pumps, hot-water storage tank and calorifier.
A huge metal pump with two gauges
110 ❧ Boiler Room – Pumps for the domestic hot-water supply.
A motor with a crank running into a large sealed circular unit
111 ❧ A Ventilating Fan, showing its motor fitted with a joint for insulating the vibration of the engine.
A massive circular duct through concrete
112 ❧ An Air-Conditioning Plant – an interior, showing one of the large intake fans. This and the next photograph are by Sims & Co.
A cabinet with several horizontally-mounted sprinklers
113 ❧ An Air-Conditioning Plant – the Water Spray for washing the particles of soot and dust from the air drawn in from the street.
Three large 'turbines' with pipes emerging
114 ❧ The Refrigerator, for cooling the air in summer when it is too hot to be circulated to the studios at its natural temperature. The plant is capable of freezing 200 tons of water a day.
A tall cabinet with a crank handle and 4 dials
115 ❧ Main Power Input Circuit-Breaker. The power is supplied by the St. Marylebone Borough Council on six separate feeders (3-phase), three at high-tension 6,600 volts, and three at 240 volts between each phase and neutral.
Winding machinery
116 ❧ Passenger Lift Motors and Controls.
from TRANSDIFFUSION
1932 // THIS IS TRANSDIFFUSION