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The Marsham Towers were three towers that made up the headquarters of the Department of the Environment in Marsham Street, Westminster, London. They were 66 metres tall and had 20 floors. They were built in 1971 and demolished in 2003. They were also known as "the three ugly sisters".
They were built on top of three World War 2 citadels - the North Rotunda, the South Rotunda and the Steel-Framed Building. The Rotundas were built to survive the impact of a 500lb bomb and had 12 foot thick concrete roofs. The rotundas were completed by 1941.
In 1943 the lowest level of the North Rotunda (codenamed Anson) was kitted out as the reserve to the Cabinet War Rooms. The previous reserve Paddock in Dollis Hill was seen to be unsatisfactory and too far from Whitehall.
Post war the Rotundas were used as a communcations centre and a civil service sports club, amongst other things. They were demolished with some difficulty in 2003, together with the towers, to make way for a new office for the Home Office, together with some residential buildings.
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