Inner London

Carreras cigarette factory

May 7, 2009 By Pickles 3 Comments

Carreras Cigarette Factory (now Greater London House), Mornington Crescent, London -M.E and O.H Collins with A.G Porri – 1926-8

Carreras building black cat

Carreras building other black cat

I don't actually like cats

Back “on message”, this classic Deco factory is especially for those of you who were disgusted by my last Brutalist concrete entry!

On Hampstead Road, NW1, this was apparently the first factory in Britain to make use of pre-stressed concrete technology, the first to contain air conditioning and a dust extraction plant and the company was the first to provide full welfare services for its employees (all taken from Wikipedia, so not my words). After Carreras merged with Rothmans, and the building was sold in the 1960s the decorative facade was removed – including those bronze cats (not sphinxes). The building was restored in the late 1990s, and it houses the offices of a number of media companies.

Carreras factory from Hampstead Rd

Here is a not very good photo – you have to imagine the drunk man in his mobility chair distracting me just off camera bottom left, add to this my panicking PA, concerned we were going to miss our train from Euston, and you get the picture… – but I thought it would give you an idea of the geography of the building.

Filed Under: A.G Porri, Inner London, M.E and O.H Collins Tagged With: 1920s, A.G Porri, art deco factory, Camden landmarks, Carreras building, Greater London House, London architecture, M.E and O.H Collins, Mornington Crescent

Battersea Power Station

August 18, 2008 By Pickles Leave a Comment

Battersea Power Station – Sir Giles Gilbert Scott – 1933 (completed 1957)

Well, what a fun morning I had on saturday – I finally made it to one of the open days of the Battersea Power Station site! A rare opportunity indeed. If you can possibly make it you should try and get along this saturday (Aug 23rd) between 10am and 5pm – it may be the last chance you get to see it this close up for a long while.

Just a word of warning though, if you’re a dog you probably won’t be allowed closer than I am in this piccie (above) – I had to get special permission (in my professional capacity as representative of Dog and Deco) to get into the site, and as you will see I took Health and Safety Exec guidelines very seriously, sporting a not-so-sexy fluorescent vest throughout my site visit.

For more info see the website: www.battersea-powerstation.com

south elevation

turbine hall

(not a very good photo I’m afraid – I was very distracted by the bit of sausage I found just here – but the turbine hall is so special I thought it worthy of inclusion anyway)