Charles House = Air Ministry ?

[phiggsbroadband]

Hi All, my father used to work at Charles House Kensington, in the Post Office department, and he said that the top floors were out of bounds to them.. being served by a seperate lift. He once 'strayed' onto that floor and was greeted by an armed guard and big alsatian dog.

However in the 1950s (when I was 8years old.) I was taken to a balcony to watch a fly-past of Spitfires and bombers. On an adjacent balcony some high ranking official was taking the sulute.

So the question is... Does anyone know what department occupied those top floors of Charles House? Was it War Ministry or Air Ministry or MI6 or something else? There are accounts of unmarked vans entering and leaving the basement area on a regular basis.

Pete

[Bushfiva]

MI5 phone tapping centre. Allegedly.

[Warmtoast]

There's a photo of how the building used to look here:

Charles House | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jancyclops/515254094/)

together with comments by various people who worked in the building. Does sound a bit suspicious.

I used to catch the bus back to Hammersmith from the bus stop just outside Charles House after a visit to an event at Olympia which was nearly opposite.

[handsfree]

Looks like Bushfiva is correct, it was a phone tapping centre.

Tapping Centres in the 1950's saw a degree of centralization and included the Metropolitan Police Training & Monitoring centre at the PCO in Petty France, replaced in the 1960's by a more secure centre in the Duke of York’s Barracks (300 lines), and for MI5/6 another 300-line centre at 8/14 Douglas Street SW1 just behind MI6 London Station (VBR) at 60 Vauxhall Bridge Road. The POID centre was at Caroone House, near St Paul’ as IT4/NE1 (MONDIAL International Exchange) until 1971. MI5 also had an additional Phone Tapping Centre on the 4th Floor of a building (375 Charles House) in Kensington High Street.

[phiggsbroadband]

A belated thank-you for the information, which I have re-stumbled across.
I think the, brick built, building has now been demolished, and a modern glass Hotel put up in its place... Progress?