Roof · Open April to October
The Terrace & Skylight Bar
Twelve planters of rosemary, a gravel path and the only place in the building where you can hear the river. The Skylight Bar occupies the old water-tank housing; its counter is a single slab of reclaimed lift ballast.
Terrace furniture is stacked at first frost. Between November and March the roof is used by the building's beekeepers and nobody else.
↑ Call car to RoofSeventh · Editorial
Meridian Quarterly, Offices
The magazine has run out of the south-facing corner since 1961 — four rooms, one very long table, and a proof wall that has never been painted over. Visitors are met at the lift; the floor plate carries no signage by choice.
Subscriptions, back issues and the annual Directory Almanac are handled at the front desk, cash or standing order.
→ Visit the mastheadIssue 148 · On Vertical Streets
Eleven essays on buildings that behave like neighbourhoods: stairwell economies, the etiquette of shared lifts, and why a good directory is a work of civic literature. Out 3 March.
Sixth · Silence observed
Archive & Reading Room
Nineteen thousand items: shipping ledgers, pattern books, the complete run of the Quarterly and every lift inspection certificate since the building opened. Retrieval takes twenty minutes; the reading room seats fourteen.
Request slips are lodged with the archivist by 16:00 for same-day delivery.
→ Request an itemFifth · Trade counter
Textiles & Haberdashery
Bolt racks run the full ninety feet of the north wall. Linen, wool crepe, oilcloth by the metre, and a drawer wall of buttons that predates the current tenancy by two owners.
Minimum cut is 0.4 m. Trade accounts settled monthly at the counter.
→ Browse the swatch bookFourth · Showroom
Furniture & Lighting
Chairs are arranged by how they are sat in rather than by maker. The lighting bay is kept at dusk level all day so that filaments can be judged honestly — a small cruelty to the electricity bill, an enormous kindness to customers.
Goods lift bookings for large items are made through the concierge on Floor 1.
→ Book a delivery slotThis month on the floor
A returned set of six bentwood dining chairs, re-caned in the building. Sold as a set only. Ask at the desk for the repair notes — they are more interesting than the chairs.
Third · Listening rooms
The Sound Department
Three cork-lined booths, a repair bench, and a stock of records organised by the year they were pressed. The bench takes valve amplifiers, tape decks and, at the engineer's discretion, one radiogram per month.
Booths are free for twenty minutes; longer if the floor is quiet, which it usually is before eleven.
→ Reserve a boothSecond · Works
Stationery & the Print Room
Two Heidelbergs, a proofing press and enough metal type to set this page twice over. The shop side sells paper by the sheet, ruled ledgers and the building's own house ink.
Evening courses run Tuesdays, six to nine. Six benches, no waiting list — first name on the sheet by the door.
→ See the course sheetGround · Street level
Lobby, Concierge & Perfumery
Terrazzo, a clock two minutes fast, and the brass directory this page was copied from. The concierge holds keys, parcels, umbrellas and a surprising amount of institutional memory.
Ask here for the goods lift, accessible entrance on Cranmer Lane, or the whereabouts of anyone in the building.
Basement · Staff & trade
Provisions & the Loading Dock
Everything the building eats and everything it throws away passes through here. The dock takes two vans at a time; the cold room is shared by the roof bar and the ground-floor perfumery, an arrangement nobody has ever explained.
Also down here: the winding gear for this lift, and a wall of chalk marks recording every service since 1926.
↓ Dock delivery notesLift log · latest entry
14 Jan — Governor tested, doors realigned, car levelling within 4 mm at all stops. Chime replaced with the original brass bowl found in the type store. Signed, H. Okonjo, Engineer.