| Summary : No. 219 Oxford Street, London comprises offices, a showroom and shop and was constructed in 1951-2 by Ronald Ward and Partners. The building is steel framed and clad in pre-cast stone panels. It is of five storeys with continuous banding of metal-framed windows to the upper four floors running around a curved corner to the return on Hills Place. The ground floor shop front has been altered while the entrance to the upper floors on Hills Place have a yellow ochre tiled surround including the date and name of designers. The east side of the Oxford Street front sports a cast stone relief at the end of each band of fenestration to the upper three floors. These depict subjects relating to the Festival of Britain. The second floor level depicts the Dome of Discovery and the Skylon, along with nautical instruments and emblems; the third floor level reproduces Abram Games's logo for the Festival, and the fourth floor depicts the Royal Festival Hall and Shot Tower, along with musical instruments. Built for the landlord Jack Salmon, this was among the very earliest post-war commercial buildings to be put up in the capital. The Festival of Britain reliefs, by an unknown sculptor, are apparently unique and of considerable interest as relics of this event of huge cultural importance. |
More information : Commercial premises built in 1951-2 by Ronald Ward and Partners. The building is steel framed and clad in pre-cast stone panels. It is of five storeys with continuous banding of metal-framed windows to the upper four floors running around a curved corner to the return on Hills Place. The ground floor shop front has been altered while the entrance to the upper floors on Hills Place have a yellow ochre tiled surround including the date and name of designers. The east side of the Oxford Street front sports a cast stone relief at the end of each band of fenestration to the upper three floors. These depict subjects relating to the Festival of Britain. The second floor level depicts the Dome of Discovery and the Skylon, along with nautical instruments and emblems; the third floor level reproduces Abram Games's logo for the Festival, and the fourth floor depicts the Festival Hall and Shot Tower, along with musical instruments.
Built for the landlord Jack Salmon, this was among the very earliest post-war commercial buildings to be put up in the capital. The Festival of Britain reliefs, by an unknown sculptor, are apparently unique and of considerable interest as relics of this event of huge cultural importance: by the time this building was completed, several of the temporary Festival buildings had already been dismantled. (1)
This building containing offices, a showroom and shop is a rare example of a post-war building both architecturally and because of its association with the Festival of Britain held in 1951. (2)
This blog contains a photograph of the building and of the Festival of Britain reliefs. See source for further details. (3)
No. 219 Oxford Street, London, is a listed building and information used to create this record has been taken from the National Heritage List for England - for a full description of the site please go to this source. (4)
Listed Grade II. Listed as `219, Oxford Street, Westminster'. (5) |