The Tottenham Court Road Frontage I Mentioned Earlier

Wet, with ferns growing out of the rainwater gutters, with the fascia distorted but hopefully not destroyed, a beautiful building nonetheless. Every building of a similar age carries in its structure and design a part of the retail history of London. Tottenham Court Road, the main route north from Oxford Street and the Crossrail hub to the Euston Road, has plenty of potential, plenty of the specialist shops that attract footfall: furniture and furnishings, electronic, Charlotte Street restaurants to the back of it, as well as world class hospitals and institutes: University College Hospital is at its northern end. Treasuring heritage buildings like this one can only help the street succeed in what are transitional times for retailing. This particular building has an emblem carved into the frieze at the top. I don’t recognize it but perhaps someone does.

Pleasing Oxford Street Frontages I Missed Earlier

As we plod around in the rain and snow, it lightens the experience a bit to look up (not when you're crossing the road of course). Have a look at the rooflines. Savour the gables. The first to pictures are of two beautiful but neglected buildings I may have missed earlier in North Oxford Street (the section between the Circus and Tottenham Court Road). Also included is another shot of the beautiful corner building at No. 52, a building I'd love to kinow more about. And coming later today, a beautiful gable from Tottenham Court Road. 

 

More on Oxford Street's Retail Heritage

Two pleasing Oxford Street buildings that I missed earlier from the northern section that runs from the Circus to Tottenham Court Road, both in need of tlc. And another view of the glorious building at No. 42 (52, my mistake), at the entrance of Hanway Place from Oxford Street, in need of celebrating - who knows the architects?

Revisioning Oxford Street?

I have always loved the buildings of Oxford Street. It's not the fault of the buildings if retailers and others install inappropriately designed fascias on the ground floors. The picture shows a beautifully restrained 1930s building in Soho Street that is being put under scaffolding and gutted. The buildings to the right of it, also under scaffolding, are on the corner of Soho Street and Oxford Street.

1. I wonder what is happening to the corner building – if any demolition is going on, I hope that Westminster City Council, part of whose glorious domain this is, will ensure that the new buildings will sit well with the existing fabric.

2. I wonder what is happening to the Soho Street building – it is a fine brick and Portland Stone façade with granite at the base. The ground floor fascia has been hashed about a bit and would benefit from appropriate restoration.

Urban chic

Imaginative reuse of a garage . . .