The Empress State Building is a skyscraper in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was built in 1961 and was 100 metres (328 ft) tall with 28 floors, designed by Stone, Toms & Partners. It was renovated in 2003 to a design by Wilkinson Eyre Architects. Three floors and 17.3 metres (57 ft) were added to its height. 'Orbit' is the name given to the private revolving bar on the top floor which offers panoramic views of London.
The building is named after the Empress Hall which formerly stood on the site, and in tribute to the Empire State Building.
The building is occupied by staff from the Metropolitan Police Service who refer to it as ESB – also the name of a local beer, Fuller's ESB. Some of the upper floors were occupied by staff from Transport for London until 2010.
This building was originally designed as a hotel but was first used by the Admiralty and GCHQ. The Directorate of Naval Shore Telecommunications (formerly the Naval Shore Telecommunications Authority) Had their National HQ office here in the 80's & 90's.
Famous quotes containing the words empress, state and/or building:
“The Empress is Legitimist, my cousin is Republican, Morny is Orleanist, I am a socialist; the only Bonapartist is Persigny, and he is mad.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte III (1808–1873)
“If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“And when discipline is concerned, the parent who has to make it to the end of an eighteen-hour day—who works at a job and then takes on a second shift with the kids every night—is much more likely to adopt the survivor’s motto: “If it works, I’ll use it.” From this perspective, dads who are even slightly less involved and emphasize firm limits or character- building might as well be talking a foreign language. They just don’t get it.”
—Ron Taffel (20th century)