Shell Mex House

Shell Mex House is a grade II listed building situated at number 80, Strand, London, UK. The current building was built in 1930–31 on the site of the Hotel Cecil and stands behind the original facade of the Hotel and between the Adelphi and the Savoy Hotel. Broadly Art Deco in style, it was designed by Ernest Joseph of the architectural firm of Messrs Joseph.

Standing 58 m (190 ft) tall, with 537,000 sq ft (49,900 m²) of floor space, Shell Mex House has 12 floors (plus basement and sub-basement) and is immediately recognizable from the River Thames and the South Bank by the clock tower positioned on the south side of the building (flanked by two large, hieratic figures at the south corners). The clock, which was known for a time as "Big Benzene", is the biggest in London, and was supplied by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon. It has faces looking towards the river and towards the Strand. It was described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as "thoroughly unsubtle, but...hold[s] its own in London's river front."

The building was for many years the London headquarters of Shell-Mex and BP Ltd for which it was originally built. Shell-Mex and BP Ltd was a joint venture company created by Shell and British Petroleum in 1932 when they decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations. Upon the brand separation of Shell-Mex and BP Ltd in 1975, Shell Mex House became the head office of Shell UK Ltd, which was Shell's UK operating company. Changes in the way that Shell was run in the 1990s led to the disposal of the property by Shell. Today, simply known as 80 Strand, most of its floors are occupied by companies belonging to Pearson PLC, which use it as their registered office, including Pearson Learning Technologies, Penguin Books, Dorling Kindersley, Michael Joseph, Rough Guides and Pearson Global English.

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