Back to today’s briefing

Story perspectives

Open City Reopens Lloyd’s Building After 2014

8/18/2026

22 5 Full Breakdown

Summary

Prince Charles Suggests

The building became the youngest ever to receive Grade I-listed status in the United Kingdom in 2011.
Critic Owen Hatherley described the building as “monstrous, compelling” and utterly messed-up in his 2012 book A New Kind of Bleak.
Prince Charles, then heir apparent in the 1980s, suggested the building was inspired by a North Sea oil rig.

Summary

Open City Offers

Open City will release free tickets tomorrow for the Lloyd’s building’s public opening on 19 September, its first public access since 2014.
Open House marks the building’s 40th anniversary and offers tours of the underwriting room, the Adam Room and the gallery.
Designed by Richard Rogers, the building has six external steel towers that house services and twelve glass lifts that were the first of their kind in the UK.

1 of 2

Prince Charles Suggests

The building became the youngest ever to receive Grade I-listed status in the United Kingdom in 2011.
Critic Owen Hatherley described the building as “monstrous, compelling” and utterly messed-up in his 2012 book A New Kind of Bleak.
Prince Charles, then heir apparent in the 1980s, suggested the building was inspired by a North Sea oil rig.

1 / 2