Minerva House

Minerva House c. 1985
Etymology	Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade & strategy
General information
Status	Complete
Location	Southwark
Address	5 Montague Close
Town or city	London SE1 9BB
Country	UK
Coordinates	51°30′25″N 0°05′24″W / 51.506844°N 0.089897°W / 51.506844; -0.089897Coordinates: 51°30′25″N 0°05′24″W / 51.506844°N 0.089897°W / 51.506844; -0.089897
Current tenants	Winckworth Sherwood LLP and Ipsos Mori
Owner	Great Portland Estates
Technical details
Material	Yellow brick
Floor count	Six
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Twigg, Brown & Partners

Minerva House was built between 1979 and 1983 as the London office of Grindlays Bank with Twigg, Brown & Partners as architects.^[1] The yellow brick building features narrow windows between closely paired piers.^[1] It sits on the south bank of the River Thames just west of London Bridge.

History

The site

An extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:1,250 map of London sheet TQ3280SE published 1952 showing New Hibernia Wharf and environs

Cartographic sources show that the site has previously housed:

• The Close of the nearby Southwark Cathedral since the 14th century^[2]
• Hibernia Wharf since at least 1888^[2][3]
• New Hibernia Wharf since at least 1947^[4]

Sales

Down a column to the Thames

Minerva House was sold for around £42 million in 2005^[5] and for £60 million in 2012.^[6]

Use

Main entrance c. 1986

Following the acquisition of Grindlays by Standard Chartered Bank in 2000, the building was refurbished during 2006^[7] and is now in mixed use with 103,686 square feet (9,632.7 m²) of office space over six floors and thirty four flats^[8] in 11,900 square feet (1,110 m²) of residential space.^[6]

Owners

The current owners are Great Portland Estates^[6] with four office space tenants: Winckworth Sherwood LLP, TUI,^[6] Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Wandle Housing Association Ltd

References