An amazing inspirational Art Deco sculpture "Speed Wings over the World" by Eric Broadbent decorates the entrance to the former Imperial Airways offices, now renovated for use by the National Audit Office.
Two representations of the Roman God Mercury in his distinctive winged helmet frame the earth globe, appearing to push the world forward into the future of flight.
The National Audit Office is located at 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, near the Victoria Coach Station.
From Wikipedia: (
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"The National Audit Office (NAO) is an independent Parliamentary body in the United Kingdom which is responsible for auditing central government departments, government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The NAO also carries out Value for Money (VFM) audit into the administration of public policy.
. . .
The NAO Offices
The National Audit Office building, built originally as the Imperial Airways Empire Terminal. The statue, "Speed Wings over the World" is by Eric Broadbent"
Part of the NAO's London Office is a listed building, originally built for Imperial Airways as their "Empire Terminal". The building underwent a £60m restoration and refurbishment, completed in 2009."
From the Biography of a London Master Stone Mason blog, (
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"Speed wings over the world by Eric Broadbent
Posted on September 26, 2013 by LonSton
Although many of the carvings and buildings on this blog are those I have worked on, there will be a number, like this one that have simply inspired me.
Speed wings over the world by Eric Broadbent. Born in London. He was the son of Abraham Broadbent (c.1868-1919), architectural sculptor and the grandson of William Broadbent, stonemason. During the First World War, Eric served as a junior officer in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Between 1921-5 he executed most of the decorative work for Sir Edwin Lutyens’ Britannic House, Finsbury Circus, London. Broadbent’s highest profile commission was ‘Speed Wings over the World’ for the main entrance of the Imperial Airways Empire Terminal, Buckingham Palace Road, London, opened in 1939 (now the National Audit Office). He died in or near Marlborough, Wiltshire."
From Taylor Empire Airways blocg: (
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"Imperial Airways Empire Terminal
by CHRIS TAYLOR
Designed in 1938 by architect Albert Lakeman, the Empire Terminal is a rather striking Art Moderne structure built to facilitate intermodal passenger and freight transport for Imperial’s C-Class flying boat services around the globe. The main entrance features the statue Speed Wings Over The World, by Eric R. Broadbent, as well as the winged insignia of Imperial Airways in bas-relief.
The terminal is a lengthy facility stretching from 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road (Westminster SW1), and was completed in 1939. It is strategically located adjacent to major road and rail connections, lying across the street from Victoria Coach Station and backing onto the railheads leading into London Victoria train station. This ideal situation allowed mail, freight and passengers to congregate at the Empire Terminal, then be shipped to Southampton via rail, where they would be loaded into the flying boats and dispatched to the far corners of the earth.
Despite the general decline of flying boats in the postwar era, Imperial’s successor companies—BOAC and British Airways—continued to operate the terminal into the late 20th century. In this 1978 image, the British Airways tail flash is visible atop the terminal’s central clock tower. At some point, BA management sold off the terminal and consolidated its offices elsewhere. I am a little hard-pressed to comprehend how BA could easily surrender such priceless architectural and corporate heritage—with its predecessor’s logo painstakingly wrought from the very stone above the entrance—to any other body, regardless of how worthy. Although given the state of Ford’s original Model T plant in Highland Park, Detroit, I suppose I should not be surprised by a company’s tone-deafness to their own rich history.
Today, the Empire Terminal is home to the UK’s National Audit Office, an independent parliamentary body that reports to the Comptroller and Auditor General."