Because this is the former headquarters of WeWork. Yes, that WeWork. The company that promised to “elevate the world’s consciousness” while serving kombucha and losing billions of dollars. The third floor of 86-90 Paul Street was where the dream—or the delusion—lived.
Picture this: a guy in a hoodie (Adam Neumann, the co-founder) roaming around, talking about “community” and “energy.” This very floor hosted the startup that reached a $47 billion valuation before crashing down like a bad hangover. That’s more zeros than most of us will see in a lifetime.
The Building’s Humble (and Shady) Past
Before it was a tech temple, 86-90 Paul Street was something far less glamorous. It was a former telephone exchange. For decades, this building was full of wires, switches, and grumpy engineers. Not exactly the birthplace of the next unicorn, right?
But here’s the twist: the building was built in the 1920s, which means it survived the Blitz. Bombs fell all over London, but this sturdy old building just nodded and kept standing. It’s literally tougher than most of the trendy startups it later housed.
