1918 - Adastral House (Air Ministry Headquarters)

After the formation of the Air Ministry, one of two identical buildings opposite Bush House became Adastral House, the name being derived from the Royal Air Force motto: “Per ardua ad astra” (Through adversity to the stars).

This remained the home of the Air Ministry through World War II, and the roof of the building in 1940 during The Blitz is where, while fire-watching, Arthur Harris, made the remark about the bombing to a companion, "Well, they are sowing the wind...".

The building became famous after the war because the central London temperatures and wind speeds were measured from its roof by the Met Office, and announced as such during the BBC weather forecasts.

1944 – V-1 Rocket Bombing (World War II)

In June of 1944, Aldwych was hit by a V-1 Rocket with devastating consequences.
The V-1 tore across southern England at over 350 miles per hour, faster than almost anything the British could put in the air against it.

In the East Court of Bush House, alarm bells rang inside the building, indicating ‘enemy action imminent’. Several young women inside the Adastral House (now 61 Aldwych) massed at a window, trying to get a look at the ‘ghastly thing’. Another young woman, saw the flash of the explosion reflected in her colleague’s eyes, a split-second before the deafening blast hit them. 

The V-1 fell in the middle of the street between Bush House and Adastral House, at 2:07 p.m. The device exploded 40 yards east of the junction of Aldwych and Kingsway. It is estimated that 46 people were killed and roughly 400 were injured.

1955 – Television House

The Independent Television Authority (ITA) awarded the first two contracts for the new ITV commercial television system. Because the BBC had previously held a monopoly on broadcasting, there were no non-BBC television studio facilities in the UK.

Associated-Rediffusion Ltd was the first British independent, commercial television station to go on the air.

British Electric Traction, majority owner of Associated-Rediffusion, bought the freehold on Adastral House from the government. A new suite of offices, technical facilities and studios was built, to be called Television House. This was begun in early 1955 and, with a planned start date for ITV of 22 September 1955, was worked on at great speed, virtually 24 hours a day.

The original headquarters and studio facilities of ITN were located on the seventh and eighth floors of the building.

In the 1967 ITV contract round, the ITA awarded the London weekday contract to a joint company made up of ABC Weekend TV and Rediffusion Television, Thames Television.

Thames decided that a brand new studio complex, equipped from the start for colour broadcasting and located out of the centre of London would be more appropriate. They used Television House as its headquarters whilst the building of the new Thames Television House in Euston took place.

1970s – St Catherine’s House

When Television House was vacated in the early 1970s, it was again occupied by the government. After 134 years at Somerset House, the General Register Office (central archive of public records such as birth, marriage & death certificates) were moved to the (now renamed) St. Catherine's House.

1997 – ExxonMobil UK

St. Catherine's House closed its doors as a public archive in 1997 when the records were moved to the Public Records Office in Myddleton Street.

Once vacated by the General Register Office the building was extensively refurbished and became the UK headquarters of ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation.

Centrium/61 Aldwych

After ExxonMobil left, the building was renamed "The Centrium" and housed a number of different corporations.

The building was renamed “61 Aldwych” by Tishman Speyer, who at the time were managing the building.

As of October 2013, the building was acquired by China Overseas Holdings Ltd. 61 Adwych is currently managed by CBRE