Lloyd’s Building, Lime Street, EC3
Towering over Leadenhall Market since 1986 is Richard Rogers’ attention-grabbing metal and glass HQ for LLoyd’s insurance company, with its revolutionary external servicing design. The building is not generally open to the public (though if you’re lucky enough to work in the wild world of insurance, group tours can be pre-booked).
Not surprisingly, such a photogenic tower is no stranger to the screen, dwarfing courier Cyril (Philip Davis) in Mike Leigh’s High Hopes. Hostage negotiator Russell Crowe reports back to the insurers here in Taylor Hackford’s Proof of Life, before descending in one of the exterior glass elevators, and the two Emma Peels, one good, one evil (but both Uma Thurman) battle it out on the roof in the disappointing film of cult Sixties TV series The Avengers. For Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, the building seemed to have been mysteriously transformed into the police HQ.
It’s a bold move to pass off such a recognisable building as an exotic location, but in the Sean Connery-Catherine Zeta-Jones thriller Entrapment, the Lloyd’s Building plays a dual role: it’s not only the ‘New York’ highrise which gets robbed, but its exterior becomes the entrance to the twin ‘Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur’. And in Spy Game, Tony Scott’s trademark speedfreak editing slyly presents the building as the ‘US Embassy, Hong Kong’, where David Hemmings is phoned by CIA agent Nathan Muir (Robert Redford).
Spy Game (2001, dir: Tony Scott)
Proof Of Life (2000, dir: Taylor Hackford)
The Avengers (1998, dir: Jeremiah H Chechik)
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004, dir: Kevin Allen)
High Hopes (1988, dir: Mike Leigh)
Entrapment (1999, dir: Jon Amiel)
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