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Yesterdays announcement that the US embassy in Mayfair was to be Grade II listed went largely unnoticed. Yet it is unlikely officials at Grosvenor Square were popping the champagne corks and raising a toast to the Minister for Culture and Tourism. Margaret Hodge's bestowing of Grade II means severe restrictions will be placed on the sprawling West End site and limits options for new developers. For years successive ambassadors have battled with the capital's Mayors over unpaid Congestion Charge fines totaling £3.5 million - not to mention a £50 million squabble with the Treasury over VAT on their new site. The Americans were expecting a £500 million return after moving to a new five acre, 20 story building in Nine Elms, Wandsworth in 2016 - a sum that is likely now to plummet in an already unstable property market. Whitehall officals deny any connection with the Americans million pound debts and a move that will deprive the Yankees of a similar if not greater amount. Boston Tea Party feel Despite the change in administration in Washington DC, the dispute continues to have something of a 'Boston Tea Party' feel about it. The US government's position is that the £8 a-day charge is a tax and therefore is prohibited by various treaties. Long suffering residents of Grosvenor Square are also miffed at the listing which protects the buildings gargantuan concrete facade - hopes that an innovating architect could regenerate the area and wash the grey memory of their neighbour away have been dashed. Defending the move, Hodge said: "It’s a really important piece of modernist architecture that fits comfortably in its surroundings and illustrates a great architect at the top of his game." Civil servants believe that the potential market price will not be affected since the area of "special interest" lies in the exterior facade and the lobby area. The US Ambassador, Louis B. Susman, has 28 days to seek a review of the decision. Provisional planning permission granted - design concerns
Outline planning permission was given to the new fortress like US Embassy located near the former power station of Battersea; however concerns are mounting from the Mayor, local residents and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment over the overbearing security of the design.
In a report in the FT English Heritage has also been added to the list of "concerned parties" over concerns that the building would interfere "with historic views" of London. The final design of the US Embassy (the competition was open to US based architects for security reasons) will be one according to various sources that will resemble the new style of embassy favoured by the United States in effect a fortress spread across 5 acres and described by the FT today as "architecture of isolation and paranoia".
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