Do you, or have you ever, worked in a very famous building?

[ferriswheel]

I've just lost the best part of a day watching Designated Survivor and it has made me think about all of the behind-the-scenes people who work in The White House, or Buckingham Palace, or any kind of place like that.

Does anyone have any exciting stories of what it is actually like?

Mathanxiety the Europa?

Some wonderful stories on this thread. I have worked in so quirky old buildings and interesting places. Sotheby’s in New Bond Street was fab. On different floors and rooms would be whole different worlds. It was wonderful. I worked at the top in Antiquities surrounds by massive pots and pieces of sculpture from thousands of years ago. There was once a mouse in the bottom of a very large urn. It was removed prior to the sale. Some auctions would be very exciting and the whole building would be a buzz with what things were selling for. It was a long time ago, feels very other worldly and we all smoked at our desks and drank wine from lunchtime on Fridays until we went to the pub.

I also worked for an art dealer in very swanky offices with lots of famous clients and important pieces of art. It was the most lonely, depressing job ever.

Finally I once went for an interview at the London Aquarium. The office was totally internal with no windows. It felt like I was in a submarine with lots of pipework everywhere. I could get out of there fast enough.

Now I work on my own in my converted garage. It is not quite the same.

My first proper job when I left school many years ago was working for NAAFI, and I got sent to London. I was with them for 3 years, and quite often used to get seconded to work in the staff bar at Windsor Castle, usually during Royal Ascot week.

It was a tiny little cellar of a place, but I got to walk down some amazing not-open-to-the-public buts to get to it and I did once get to serve Prince Philip with a half of bitter!

Got to work at some other interesting events and places too (Biggin Hill air show, Earls Court while the Royal Tournament was on) but Windsor Castle was probably the most prestigious. Walking past the security and flashing my (just a piece of card back then) beautifully-engraved pass was always a thrill!

As a student I used to work in Harrods over the Christmas season. I actually loved it, I love Christmas and walking around the decorated store (I worked as a personal Christmas gift/hamper shopper so I went through the different departments for outrageously luxurious gifts for custom orders...) was fun! I also had the (dubious) pleasure of personally delivering chilled bottles of champagne to Mohamed Al Fayed's office every now and then when he had visitors. Looking back now I realise of course they just wanted a young woman to run into his office doing his bidding but oh well...

I currently work in downtown Seattle next to the new Amazon biospheres (Bezos's balls as they ahem... might be known colloquially). My colleagues and I are hoping to claim a desk there occasionally when they finally open

I've worked In BBC Broadcasting house and have also worked in Parliament, stayed in Windsor Castle several times, been to No 10 a lot, Buckingham Palace and stayed several times in a privately owned stately home/estate (no hotel or gift shop). I particularly like staying in Windsor castle and visiting the chapel for evensong - it's a very beautiful and calming place, and the stately home was amazing. The Duke would say let's meet in the long gallery for champagne before dinner and it's walls were covered in Renoirs etc. That felt like a huge privilege to see how the other half live, being waited on for all meals and staring out at the immense grounds.

This (fascinating/illuminating) thread has reminded me of a stint as a student waitressing at the Royal and Ancient in St Andrews. Serving pink gins and pressed tongue rolls to crusty colonels inside that huge bay window overlooking the course. It's that buzz of being on the inside of a famous building looking out.
Also Bush House (marvellous marble in the lobby) and Broadcasting House...W1A really does reveal all you need to know about what it's like inside BH...minus the rampaging rodents...

Not famous as such, but I used to have to go into lots of flats and houses in the very posh bits of London. Not when they were for sale but while people were living there.
It taught me that money definitely does not buy you taste!

I worked for one of Oxford’s oldest and most famous colleges. My office was built in the 1730s and had gigantic sash windows, which meant there was no temperature control at all. I used to have to wear fingerless gloves at my desk in the winter. It was also on the third floor and we were constantly trudging up and down the stairs to go to the loo.

Having lunch in a medieval hall was amazing, But tourists taking photos of you while you were trying to scoff down fish and chips was a pain.

It was an amazing job and I miss it terribly. I have some amazing stories involving famous Alumni, but I don’t want to out myself or get sued .

I also did the summer season at Buckingham Palace. It was brilliant- bunch of students who wanted to have fun.

I worked in the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand a lot and loved it, so regal and imposing and full of history. The Law Society library in London is also lovely, so old world. I used to spend lovely afternoons there researching. Also Lincolns Inn in London - like stepping back in time into another world in central London. Beautiful chapel and dining halls.

I worked in the British Library whilst it was being rebuilt. My role would be outing. But it was awesome as I was a starry eyed uni student who thought my working life would be fabulous all the time . Fascinating to see it turn from a dusty shell to a polished and filled space

Oh, I've had lunch with the pensioners at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. What a beautiful beautiful place that is. So many gallant elderly soldiers thrilled to have someone new to chat to, too!

I've worked at the Home Office and Thames House.

I love that area of London, glimpses of the past down so many of the streets and flickers of history in the street names. I miss it a great deal.

I worked at Marlborough House, home of the Commonwealth, for a while. Beautiful building with some amazing rooms - our overseas visitors were always really excited to be there - and lovely gardens. Shame about the 1960s annex over the road though

I now work for London Underground and like a past poster have been in a few abandoned stations and other bits. TBH I get excited just going 'behind the scenes' into a depot or control room! I've also never heard of a secret Buckingham Palace station but you never know! Although if there was one someone, probably management at Victoria or Green Park, would know and they've never mentioned it to me...

What's the AIBU question?!

NEEEEEE NAAAWWWWW

Thread police are here

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Hahahahaha district

Zigg: I worked in Cunard Building too! Much more beautiful inside than the Liver Building IMO.**
One of the Three Graces of Liverpool.
I remember them filming a big movie there.** Was it ‘In the Name of the Father”?

I worked at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. My mum still treasures the letter I sent her from the Palace post office with the postmark on it. The best bit about the Palace was the free 3 course dinner every day in the dining room. My first day I sat next to the Queen's piper, the guy who wakes the Queen each morning with bagpipes. Also used to love watching the soldiers struggle to walk down the stairs in full gear, not very bendy at the knee.

You know how they filmed some of World War Z in Glasgow to save money? After the first big zombie attack, Brad Pitt et al drive past my work

The only reason I watched that film was to see a mass zombie outbreak in George Square.

District - My DH works in Canary Wharf tower too. He's quite near the top of the building and we take the kids to his office in the holidays to see the view.

I used to work at Tate Britain which used to be a prison and the departure point for deportation to Australia. My store cupboard was the damp dark tunnel the prisoners used to take to get to the dock and my office was an old first WW hospital room round the back - freezing in the winter/roasting in the summer. I also worked at the Wallace Collection, which was lovely, if very cramped.

When i met DH he worked at MOD and had been at MI6 a bit.

I used to work for GEC-Avery at their Soho Foundry site in Smethwick, Birmingham (just !). This was where James Watt built the first steam engines in the world.

There's a world heritage site inside, where the first cottages in the world to be lit by gas are preserved. (Legend has them as "haunted" ....)

There was a lot of buried history - incluiding railway lines and canal locks.

"Time Team" did a dig for the nearby "Soho Manufactury" in the late 90s. They had to park their gear inside the Foundry overnight.

I'm pleased I had a chance to see the museum (best wishes to Howard). It had some priceless exhibits (4,000 year old Egyptian scales, for example). Heartbreaking to read "it's closed".

For a time, the Avery group contained one of Englands oldest business - going back to the 17th century.

I used to get the boat to my meetings at Tate Modern. That was nice.

Chrysler building in New York - it used to sway in a slightly disconcerting way when it was windy. And the lift was very slow. But very beautiful!