Tower 42, Skyscraper in City of London, United Kingdom.
Tower 42, originally the National Westminster Tower, is a 183-metre skyscraper at 25 Old Broad Street in the City of London. Its roughly circular plan is wrapped in closely spaced vertical white fins with dark glass between them, broken by recessed horizontal bands, and the top steps back into a smaller dark block. It has 47 levels above ground, 42 of them cantilevered from a concrete core.
The tower was completed in 1980 and remained the tallest building in the United Kingdom until One Canada Square surpassed it in 1990. Its original identity was closely tied to NatWest Bank, which commissioned the construction to house its London headquarters.
The tower's name comes from its 42 cantilevered floors, and its plan echoes the three chevrons of the old NatWest logo. Restaurants occupy the 24th and 42nd floors, and the building is a multi-tenanted Grade A office address at 25 Old Broad Street in Cornhill.
Double-decked lifts serve the 42 cantilevered floors, with levels 23 and 24 acting as sky lobbies where passengers change between the two decks. Restaurants occupy the 24th and 42nd floors, and the upper floors are reached by lift rather than stairs. The entrance is at 25 Old Broad Street in the Cornhill ward.
The annual Vertical Rush event invites participants to climb 932 steps to the top, with the physical ascent supporting charitable organizations. The steps lead through the interior of the building and offer climbers an unusual perspective on the vertical architecture that ordinary visitors never see.
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