In these torrid times in the aftermath of the EU referendum, amid all the uncertainty about the UK's place in the world post-Brexit, one detail keeps me chuckling again and again…
The old Daily Express building in Fleet Street is one of my favorite London structures…
We don't have, in my humble opinion, a lot of truly world class Art Deco here in London, but with this we have really nailed it.
The modernity of the thing is startling to me still, 24 years after I first clapped eyes on it. It was designed in 1932 and I don't think it would look out of place if we lifted it up and plopped it down at Canary Wharf. If fact, it would raise the tone of the neighbourhood, if you ask me.
It's currently occupied by Goldman Sachs, and here's a recent picture…
It's the flags that make me smile. Why? Because I wonder what Lord Beaverbrook, proprietor of The Daily Express and pillar of the imperial establishment would have made of the European flag flying above his building, that's why.
Here's a detail from the foyer depicting the British Empire…
… by Eric Aummonier (the man behind East Finchley's celebrated Archer).
I think it's safe to say the The Beaver would have been a Brexiter…
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