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?

Enjoyed this thread immensely. Never want to work in a crap modern open plan officw again!

Another one who works at Senate House and was at an old Oxford College - the tourists peering through your windows all day was a pain in the butt. When I was at school I used to work as a guide on the Mary Rose and had a great time getting chatted up by all the young sailors doing a stint on the Victory. I also got to go to a dinner on board once.

I was lucky enough to have a job that took me to all sorts of amazing places in this country and all over Europe - my favourite was the summer palace of a major Italian aristocratic family - never seen so many acres of marble in my life. Only problem was it was February, freezing cold and we spent the whole time in the kitchen as it was the only place that was even remotely warm....

Another one for BBC TV centre - I bloody loved that building and the fact that you could sit in all the observation galleries and watch programmes being made and hear gallery talkback. I particularly loved all the tea bars close to the studios and the waitress service restaurant. I actually cried when they shut it down to make (mostly) luxury flats.

I also worked at Thames TV studios at Teddington Lock (shut down for flats), the old Coronation Street set in Manchester (torn down for redevelopment) and am currently in the ITV building on the Southbank, formerly LWT (about to be redeveloped into luxury flats... can you see a theme here?) The main thing in common apart from the famous people and wonderful programme making and a real sense of telly history, is the fact that past the fancy receptions, they all looked like really messy sixth form common rooms.

I also worked in One Canada Square - and was in the building when the canary wharf bomb went off.

Other than that I've filmed all over the place: got to make the top of the Post Office Tower go round, did the dome and the eye before they opened, numerous castles and historical buildings, Downing Street, Houses of Commons, film sets, TV drama and soap sets... The best bit is filming early in the morning or late at night when no-one is there.

Ironically, I'm about to spend the next five years back at the old BBC building as there are a couple of studios there still and ITV are moving in. I feel sad - it will be weird going back to a sanitised version of the building I loved. And I will miss the daily joy of working next to the Thames with a view of the river, the eye and St Paul's out of our office windows.

Liver Buildings Liverpool

Fabulous views along the River Mersey

I once had a temp job as a receptionist at the Royal Collection, based in St James’ Palace. I had a huge oak desk and a horse-drawn carriage turned up to collect the day’s mail, including hand-written letters from the Surveyor of the Queen’s Works of Art to her Maj herself. All the other women wore black roll-necks and pearls and were exceedingly posh. It was an insight into another world.

One of my first jobs was at the Liver Building as a typist. I was there for 2 years but it was probably the last time working somewhere like that was a big thing, as insurance companies tend to be in faceless business parks now. It was very old fashioned but quite cool looking back on it now - we had a doorman who knew all of our names, there was a dress code and everything for typists/secretaries. The canteen had an unwritten system as well - secretaries and clerical all ate together, the insurance reps all ate together and so on.

It's weird to think it was only 30 years ago! It seems like a lifetime ago now - are there any companies that have a staff canteen still? If there are, it certainly isn't silver service like ours was!

I worked in the Liver Building for 6 months about 18 years ago.

I'm old af.

hopingforhappiness

We all thought the people who worked in the Cunard building were posh compared to us! It was talk of our department when one of the girls started 'courting' one of the Insurance reps from... I think it was Prudential? I might be misremembering but this was in the 80s.

I worked for 3 months at Parliament House in Canberra installing their new phone system in 2001.

Was really interesting. Plus amazing canteen.

It's not famous but I work in a building that used to be a convent and dates back to the 1500s. It has lots of weird nooks abd crannies and parts of it haven't been updated for centuries like my office.

I worked for 3 months at Parliament House in Canberra installing their new phone system in 2001.

Was really interesting. Plus amazing canteen.

Flat Iron building in NY. Once you got beyond the foyer it was an absolute dump. Needed a lot of work!!

I work in the lift industry and have been lucky enough to have been inside some pretty cool buildings. Some very posh places also wherhave behind the scenes they are very much not posh!!

Not employed, but I did work experience in the office of the magazine Cosmopolitan. I was expecting a sort of Ugly Betty / Devil Wears Prada sort of place. It was just a totally ‘normal’ open plan office, with really down to earth staff. This was early noughties so almost 20 years ago now though. Wonder if it’s been glammed up since then. The editor at the time was very nice.

I spent most of my time sorting out the letters from readers, which they still got sacks and sacks of, despite email being a ‘thing’ by then.

My DH used to work in the Foreign Office in Whitehall.

Houses of Parliament and the Home Office. The later was just like any ther office building. But it was cool to be able to take family and friends into the Commons and Lords after work and then pop in for a beer in one of the bars - the one overlooking the Thames was great.

I’ve also stayed at Hampden Court, that was brilliant. Basically felt like a king for a few days. And I proposed to my wife at the top of Big Ben after the bells had just chimed.

HMP Parkhurst and Albany next door (for a short time on a project) I never met any really famous prisoners . It smelt just like school did , and the inmates all called you 'Miss' as if you were a teacher (even though most of them were older men )

A very strange experience though,

Worked in the old Barings Bank office

The Kremlin Armoury for a short time

Kremlin Armoury?? Wow.. we need to know more!!

English tour guide. Good friend was living in Moscow. I had the right visa but am sure he managed to circumvent some processes for me. Was brief but glorious

I work in the pub Wham! were formed in

I worked in the building they used to film This Morning in in the Albert Dock. Then in The Cunard Building (one of the Three Graces, next to the Liver Building)
Downstairs in the basement they still had all the storage rooms for the shipping line.

Oh, and in uni I spent a summer digging in Pomeii (studying archaeology).