A home with historic connections
Aluxury apartment has gone on sale within a historic telecommunications landmark. Aston Chase, a leading central and north west London estate agent, is offering the two-bedroom apartment in the Yoo Building in St John’s Wood, originally the London Telephone Exchange, a vital part of 1930s Edwardian-era telecoms infrastructure in the capital.
The newly refurbished two-bedroom apartment has a contemporary interior design that complements the retained period features of the building, which include large floorplates, generous ceiling heights and quirky feature windows.
In a wonderful juxtaposition of eras, the modern apartment is on the first floor of the former London Telephone Exchange, built in 1937. While the telephone was invented in 1870, it was not until the development of telephone exchanges in 1879 that larger volumes of calls could be made involving multiple callers.
From 1912, the UK had a unified telephone system, able to place calls throughout the country. When the new London Telephone Exchange building was opened in 1937 it enabled large volumes of calls to be reliably connected between London, the rest of the UK and countries around the world.
The new exchange also allowed Londoners, for the first time, to make emergency 999 calls — when 999 was dialled, a buzzer sounded in the exchange and a red light flashed to draw an operator’s immediate attention. When senior politicians and members of the royal family were making long distance calls via the exchange, operators were instructed not to eavesdrop. During the Second World War, such was the importance of the London Telephone Exchange for military communication that firefighters, a searchlight and a defence gun were posted on the roof.
The distinctive edifice was renamed the Yoo Building and converted into spacious apartments in 2001 under the lifestyle brand Yoo, by property entrepreneur John Hitchcock and French industrial architect Philippe Starck, whose design portfolio ranges from residential interiors to boats.
In 1983, the then French President Francois Mitterrand chose Starck to refurbish the presidential apartments at the Elysée and he also devised the Asahi Beer Hall in Tokyo, the building topped by a giant flame.
As part of the conversion of the London Telephone Exchange into apartments, Starck placed a red telephone booth outside the main entrance, paying tribute to its past.
The building was originally constructed as the Art Deco movement started to fade away and modernism was becoming established, and its high ceilings and vast internal spaces have made for generously sized apartments with mezzanine floors.
The two-bedroom apartment on sale is no exception. Complete with two mezzanine floors which house the bedroom suites, the apartment spans 1,321 sq ft, with the main first floor providing a 31ft reception room with soaring double-height ceilings, coffered ceilings
When the royal family made a call, operators were told not to eavesdrop’
with LED lighting and a triple series of floor-to-ceiling angled windows that create even more space and flood the reception and dining area — and adjoining openplan kitchen — with natural light.
The deep bay window in the principal bedroom, with an en-suite, is also angled, replicating the striking architecture of the property.
Art Deco geometric plasterwork on the ceiling in the dining area is picked out by subtle strip lighting, while downlights illuminate space for artwork on the walls.
The fitted designer kitchen is a contemporary take on industrial Britain, with steel kitchen units and worktops and a marble island/breakfast bar. This marble motif — off white with a grey vein, and the reverse — is repeated in the bathrooms.
Engineered timber wood flooring sets off the high-spec apartment, which comes with a private car parking space and 24-hour porterage.
Mark Pollack, co-founding director of Aston Chase, says: “This historic 1930s telecoms building helped to make the UK’s first ever 999 calls possible and was the London hub where telephone calls were placed between Britain and its Commonwealth dominions. Style and history meet in this spacious modern apartment which is located equidistant between St John’s Wood and Maida Vale.”
Craig Draper, associate director of Aston Chase, adds: “Within this incredibly spacious apartment there are touches of Art Deco style and early modernism, complemented by the
high-quality marble work in the bathrooms and the striking contemporary kitchen.”
The Yoo Building is on Hall Road in the heart of St John’s Wood. Hall Road bisects Hamilton Terrace, renowned for its Victorian architecture and illustrious residents — novelist Thomas Hardy, actress Honor Blackman and several chief rabbis among them.
Just a few minutes’ walk away are the cafés and restaurants of Clifton Road in Little Venice, while St John’s Wood High Street boasts high-profile venues such as The Ivy Café, the Parisian caférestaurant Soutine and local greengrocer and deli Panzers — a much-loved fixture of St John’s Wood and one of the local sources of kosher food.
The Yoo Building is 0.5 miles from St John’s Wood tube station (Jubliee Line) and 0.3 miles from Maida Vale station (Bakerloo Line).
The apartment in the Yoo Building is on sale for £1,750,000 with Aston Chase.