102 Petty France

Office building in London, England May 2025 May 2025 102 Petty France HomeOffice QueenAnnesGate.jpg 102 Petty France photographed from Broadway 50 Queen Anne's Gate United Kingdom London Westminster#United Kingdom Greater London Location within the City of Westminster, London 51.4999 -0.1346 type:landmark_region:GB inline,title Fitzroy Robinson & PartnersSir Basil Spence 56 m ft 51000 m2 sqft 14 102 Petty France is an office block on Petty France in Westminster, London, England, overlooking St James's Park, which was designed by Fitzroy Robinson & Partners, with Sir Basil Spence, and completed in 1976. It was well known as the main location for the UK Home Office between 1978 and 2004, when it was known as 50 Queen Anne's Gate; it now houses departments including the Ministry of Justice, His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, the Crown Prosecution Service, Office for Budget Responsibility, and the Government Legal Department. The building is 56 m ft tall, with 14 floors providing 51000 m2 sqft of office space. History The site was previously occupied by the 14-storey mansion block Queen Anne's Mansions, which was despised by some architectural commentators: Lord Reigate, speaking in the House of Lords in 1972 against the plans for the new building, used Nikolaus Pevsner's description "that irredeemable horror".House of Lords Queen Anne's Mansions Site: Development Plans https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1972/jul/04/queen-annes-mansions-site-development 4 July 1972 1305 However, the new building's architecture was not favourably received, either, owing to its scale and massing with protruding elements at the upper and lower floors, often being described as a Brutalist design: it was sometimes known to those who worked there as "the Lubyanka".https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qtpj1 The Great Offices of State: The Dark Department Michael Cockerell (reporter) BBC Four 14 February 2010 14 February 2010 25:10 Jack Straw: it was awful in those days, we used to call it Lubyanka Fodor's guide to London described it as "hulking", and Lord St John of Fawsley remarked that "Basil Spence's barracks in Hyde Park ruined that park; in fact, he has the distinction of having ruined two parks, because of his Home Office building, which towers above St James's Park."Vauxhall Tower House of Lords https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldhansrd/vo050628/text/50628-24.htm 28 June 2005 200 The building originated as a speculative office development, but the Home Office moved in owing to lack of space in its previous headquarters in Whitehall. In spring 2005, the Home Office moved to a new purpose-built building at 2 Marsham Street designed by Terry Farrell. The Queen Anne's Gate building had a major refurbishment undertaken, having come into the ownership of Land Securities. It has been the home of the Ministry of Justice since 2008, with the building renamed 102 Petty France. In May 2025, it was announced that the government would vacate 102 Petty France, as part of a wider plan to move thousands of civil servant jobs out of London. The timeframe for closing the office has yet to be published.Nevett Joshua 14 May 2025 Thousands of civil servant jobs to leave London https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1mgrnn7lv5o BBC News London 15 May 2025 References Category:Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Category:National government buildings in London Category:Brutalist architecture in London Category:Basil Spence buildings Category:1976 establishments in England Category:Office buildings completed in 1976 Category:Headquarters in the United Kingdom