Caroone House was an office block at 14

Farringdon Street Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing C ...

, London EC4, which was built in 1972 on the site of the

Congregational Memorial Hall The Congregational Memorial Hall in Farringdon Street, London was built to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Great Ejection of Black Bartholomew's Day, resulting from the 1662 Act of Uniformity 1662, Act of Uniformity which restored the Anglica ...

which had been demolished in 1968.

History of Site

The Memorial Hall and Caroone House were built on the site of the old

Fleet Prison Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the River Fleet. The prison was built in 1197, was rebuilt several times, and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846. History The prison was built in 1197 off what is now ...

. The prison was burnt down during the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

and while the prison was being rebuilt, the prisoners were relocated to Caron House, South Lambeth, a large mansion house which had been built by Noel de Caron the Netherlands ambassador to England in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. In 1685 Caron House was demolished but the name survived and in the 19th century there was a "Carroun House" on the estate – which has been known as Vauxhall Park since 1890. As a consequence of this rich history, "Caroone House" was adopted as an appropriate name for the new building in Farringdon Street. A

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

plaque commemorating the foundation of the Labour Party at the Memorial Hall in 1900 was displayed at the main entrance to Caroone House.

BT

The building was used by

Post Office Telecommunications BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broadband and mobile ...

– from 1981

British Telecom BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...

(BT) – as the headquarters for its Post Office International Telephones division (designated as ITp) for operating their international business and for

telephone tapping Wiretapping, also known as wire tapping or telephone tapping, is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connecti ...

. Among other things it was the HQ for managing the operation of ITps International Control Centres (ICCs) in London, Brighton and Glasgow. It was also HQ for what was, at the time, the world's largest international telecoms exchange located on the site of the old

Stag Lane Aerodrome Stag Lane Aerodrome was a private aerodrome between 1915 and 1933 in Edgware, north London, UK. History The land for an aerodrome was purchased by the London & Provincial Aviation Company (Warren and Smiles – Michael Geoffrey Smiles of Bonni ...

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...

. The Stag Lane exchange was later superseded by BTs new international switching centre (ISC) at

Mondial House Mondial House was a main telecommunications hub in central London on the banks of the River Thames. It was known as an international switching centre (ISC). Built in 1978 the building was seen as controversially modern-looking. It was demolished ...

Closure

In 2001 Caroone House was purchased by The British Land Company plc for £24.5 million. The building was demolished in 2004 to be replaced by the Ludgate West development. British Land commenced construction in 2005 with completion in 2007 and today 5 Fleet Place stands on the site. The Labour Party plaque has been reinstated on the wall of the redevelopment.. Accessed 3 March 2016

References

{{LB Camden 1972 establishments in England BT Group buildings and structures Buildings and structures demolished in 2004 Demolished buildings and structures in London Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Camden History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom Office buildings completed in 1972 Office buildings in London Telephone exchange buildings Telephone tapping