We’re storing a few significant buildings here that we like the look of but haven’t enough to categorise, though there is a strong Art Noveau theme so far to these four, built within a decade or so of each other, the time of the Arts & Craft movement.
Midland Bank
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1922, this splendid building with its walnut and limed oak panel interiors is now an art gallery for Hauser & Wirth. Lutyens later designed the Cenotaph and jokingly dubbed this early style 'Wrenaissance' in tribute to the architect of St Paul’s.
196a Piccadilly W1
Tube: Piccadilly Circus
Any comments - or a suggestion? Please e-mail me.
Michelin Building
This flamboyant British headquarters for the French tyre company was bought by Sir Terence Conran in 1985. Now a cafe, bar and restaurant, named for Bibendum, the corpulent Michelin man, it still features the tyre and motoring murals of 1911.
81 Fulham Road SW3
Tube: South Kensington
Classics
Debenham House
This extraordinary house was built in 1906 for Ernest Debenham, chairman of the Debenham department store. The tiled interior is even more striking than the exterior, with designs said to have been designed for the Czar and for P&O liners. (Private - but sometimes open for Open House architecture weekend.)
Addison Road W14 (Private)
Tube: Holland Park
www.debenhamhouse.com
Euston Fire Station
Opened in 1902, since then 13 firefighters from here have lost their lives, including eight during World War II, helping give it a reputation for being haunted. The LCC Architects Dept under WE Riley built a number of quirky stations but this is the most heavily influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement.
172 Euston Road NW1
Tube: Euston
www.eustonfirestation.com
