Wide-angle view of Broadcasting House in Portland Place. The British Broadcasting Corporation's headquarters are in the Portland-stone clad building at the top of Regent Street in central London. It is a magnificent building, built with Art Deco features in the 1930s, and the distinctive front view of the building is a worldwide icon for the BBC. Architect G Val Myer designed the building in collaboration with the BBC's civil engineer, M T Tudsbery. The interiors are the work of the Australian-Irish architect Raymond McGrath. He set up and directed a team that included Serge Chermayeff and Wells Coates and designed the vaudeville studio, the associated green and dressing rooms, and the dance and chamber music studios in a flowing Art Deco style. It was later said of his efforts that "the designs for the BBC gave the first real fillip to industrial design in England". Broadcasting House was officially opened on May 14, 1932 and is now grade II* listed. Broadcasting House is currently home to BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and BBC 7 and also houses the BBC Radio Theatre, where music and speech programmes (typically comedy for BBC Radio 4) are recorded in front of a studio. At the front of the building are statues of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's The Tempest) by Eric Gill. Their choice was fitting since Prospero was a magician, and Ariel, a spirit of the air, in which radio waves travel.
