It’s the building where Princess Diana asked Condé Nast boss Sir Nicholas Coleridge if he thought her breasts were too small. The building where Tara Palmer-Tomkinson regularly showed up uninvited to take a nap. The building that’d lead to fights between taxi drivers over who got to do pickups, because the women leaving were “always so beautiful”. The legendary revolving doors at its entrance were used by everyone from Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell to Linda Evangelista and Kate Middleton. And, of course, there was the ludicrously handsome yet ultimately tragic miniature dachshund turned Twitter celebrity Tatler Alan. But more on him later.
Vogue House was not like other offices. Hence the industry-wide nostalgia kicked up this week amid the news that Condé Nast will be leaving its historic Mayfair headquarters after more than 65 years. In early 2024, the company will move its staff and operations to London’s Embankment, leaving behind a building that Coleridge – the managing director at Condé Nast Britain from 1991 to 2017 – describes as “the beating heart” of the glossy magazine industry.
