I’m on the ground floor of BBC Television Centre, a 1960s building in west London. I look directly upwards and through the stairwell to the light filtering down. I can’t claim to have taken the stairs up to the top – a swift ride in a lift took me there.

This stairwell doesn’t have the Art Deco glamour of the one at the former Daily Express headquarters on the other side of the city, but like stairways the world over, has an interesting inverted quality. What you see from the bottom is reversed at the top.

Television Centre has been sold off for redevelopment and staff are gradually being moved out. Much of the iconic building is protected, and hopefully this staircase will continue to be used for many years to come.

View a gallery of interior details of other London buildings