Thames House — MI5's 'The Grid'
Thames House in London is the Portland stone headquarters of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, MI5, featuring a hidden automated miniature monorail used to transport classified files. Designed in 1929 by architect Sir Frank Baines, the neoclassical structure stands on Millbank where a tragic 1928 flood cleared previous dwellings. MI5 first occupied Thames House in 1934 before Prime Minister John Major officially reopened it as headquarters in 1994.
London · from the walk “Secrets of Westminster & MI6” · audio ~4 min · Generated
Thames House, 11 Millbank, London SW1P 4QE
- Architect Sir Frank Baines designed Thames House in 1929 for Imperial Chemical Industries following the 1928 flood.
- Charles Sargeant Jagger carved sculptures of Saint George and Britannia for the facade of Thames House.
- MI5 first occupied the top floor of Thames House in 1934 with a total staff of 28.
- Prime Minister John Major officially reopened Thames House as MI5 headquarters in 1994.
Why did the TV series Spooks use Freemasons' Hall instead of filming at Thames House?
Look at the imposing Portland stone building across the road. Thames House. Number eleven, Millbank. Right now, behind those walls, some of Britain's most closely guarded secrets are being kept... and you are standing as close as the law will allow.......... This is the headquarters of MI five — Britain's domestic intelligence agency. But this building wasn't always about espionage. Its origins are far more... explosive.......... On the seventh of January, nineteen twenty-eight, disaster struck. A catastrophic flood swept through London when heavy snowmelt, torrential rain, and a North Sea storm surge combined to push the Thames to its highest level Ever recorded — over eighteen feet above the datum line. Right here at Millbank, a seventy-five foot section of the embankment simply... collapsed. Fourteen people drowned, mostly in flooded basement flats. The nearby Tate Gallery was inundated, with over two hundred paintings badly damaged.......... The devastation cleared the way for something new. The run-down dwellings and warehouses were demolished, and in nineteen twenty-nine, architect Sir Frank Baines designed this grand neoclassical structure. It was originally built for Imperial Chemical Industries — Ici — once the largest manufacturer in Britain. Look up at the facade. Those sculptures of Saint George and Britannia were carved by Charles Sargeant Jagger, a World War One veteran famous for the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner — a man who controversially depicted Dead soldiers on memorials when convention strictly forbade it.......... Now here's a detail most people walk right past. Hidden inside this building is an automated miniature Monorail — a tiny train system that carries classified files up from the basement to staff working above. Spy work... delivered by model railway.......... And if you're a fan of the Bbc series Spooks, you might think you've seen this building on screen. But you Haven'T. The producers couldn't film here for security reasons, so they used Freemasons' Hall over in Covent Garden as their stand-in. Even MI five's own website cheerfully admits it — "the building that represents Thames House in Spooks is a Different building altogether."
...... Oh, and one more thing. MI five actually had offices in this Very building once before — back in nineteen thirty-four, when the entire service consisted of just twenty-eight staff crammed onto the top floor. They left during the war, bounced between Blenheim Palace and various London addresses for decades... then finally came Home again in nineteen ninety-four, when Prime Minister John Major officially reopened it. Since two thousand and seven, even stepping past those entrance doors without authorization is a specific Criminal offence.......... So take a good look. This is as close as you'll get... unless, of course, you apply for a job.
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