The BBC has formally handed over the keys to its historic Maida Vale Studios, bringing to an end almost 90 years of broadcasting from the west London site.
BBC Archive curator David Hyde said staff had spent the past year preserving material from the studios before the handover, including around 1,000 audio recordings spanning 50 years, 1,200 early visual-radio tapes and 129 boxes of documents and photographs. Around a dozen heritage objects, including historic BBC loudspeakers and Radiophonic Workshop instruments, were also saved, while the building was extensively filmed and photographed before closure.
The Grade II-listed complex was converted into BBC studios in the 1930s and became one of the corporation’s most famous music bases, hosting artists including The Beatles, Sir Elton John, Coldplay and Beyoncé, as well as countless Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4 and 6 Music sessions. The BBC announced plans to leave Maida Vale in 2018 as part of a move to new facilities in Stratford.
The site was sold in 2023 to a partnership involving composer Hans Zimmer, film producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, and Zimmer’s business partner Steve Kofsky. Plans have since been drawn up to refurbish the studios with new recording, editing and creative facilities while retaining the historic building. Among the final archive discoveries was a collection of tapes labelled “Chris Moyles Longest Ever Show – 2011”, with Hyde marking his last visit by playing the piano at Maida Vale one final time.
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