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This article was published in 2019 in a series on the history of British Airways and its predecessors Imperial Airways, BOAC and BEA. You can browse all 100 stories in number order, by theme or by decade.
Many have been updated since first published.
At 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, between London Victoria railway station and Victoria coach station, lies an Art Deco masterpiece.
The Imperial Airways Empire Terminal opened to the public on 5 June 1939. Designed by the architect Albert Lakeman it was described on its opening as the finest air terminal in the world.
The original building was only 80 feet deep, but 500 feet wide. The 5 storey building has a symmetrical facade with a 10 storey central clock tower and wings curving forward to form a crescent shape.
As well as being used by Imperial Airways for ticketing and checking in passengers, it was also used by the airline as a Head Office. The very top of the tower afforded the Directors of Imperial Airways impressive views all over London.
Above the entrance is a sculpture “Wings Over The World” designed by Eric Broadbent. This is the only remaining external clue as to the building’s original use.
The location was chosen because the Air Ministry insisted that Southampton had to be used as base for flying boat services, and this was the only site that backed on to what was then Southern Railway station. It had direct access to was then platform 17 (now 19) of London Victoria.
A special train consisting almost entirely of First Class Pullman carriages carried passengers to connect to flying boat services operating from Southampton Water. Passengers could dine on the 90 minute train journey to Southampton, before taking services to Africa, India, the Far East and Australia the following day.
Passengers flying on services to Europe were taken by coach to Croydon Airport.
The building was subsequently known as the BOAC Terminal and then the British Airways Terminal.
The building closed to passenger use on 14 November 1980, partly due to pressure on BA to cut costs and like the now demolished West London Air Terminal, it also became redundant as Heathrow Airport gained direct transport links. It was officially listed in 1981. The site has been occupied by the National Audit Office from 1986 to the present day.
You can continue reading our 100 part series on the history of British Airways and its predecessor airlines Imperial Airways, BOAC and BEA in numerical order, by theme or by decade.
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