Is this the oldest building on Oxford Street?

At the eastern end of Oxford Street, between Centrepoint and Soho Square, there remains a patchwork terrace that I'm glad to see has not succumbed to the heavy-handed rebuilding that has affected many large blocks to the east. 

At the centre of my photo above, you'll see a skinny dark building at 41 Oxford Street. Is this, I wonder, the oldest building on Oxford Street? Viewed from the top deck of a bus it's possible to get a better look of the bay windows, and the decorative panels between them.

The upper floors are currently empty, as per the buildings either side and much of old Oxford Street, which begs the question, why are the powers that be building big new shiny new things everywhere else?! But that's a subject for another day in a pub.

I have tried to find out more about the history of No.41 made all the more confusing that, until the early 1880s, this street was numbered consecutively along the North side from Tottenham Court Rd to Hyde Park and then back along the South side ending at No.440. Luckily, the 1882 directory makes clear the changing numbers and we see that the property in question used to be No.421 which, in 1882, was listed as George Lloyd's coffee house. Delving a few decades further back to 1841, the occupant was Manuel Ferran, wine merchant.

A couple of years before earlier, John Tallis was busy creating illustrative streetscapes of London, and his depiction of No.421 shows a different building altogether:

Tallis, London Street Views, 1838-40, Peter Jackson, London Topographical Society, first published 1969

I'm guessing that the Georgian properties were replaced during Oxford Street's metamorphosis into a fancy shopping high street and the building we see today is c1860 or thereabouts. What do you think? 

I also notice within the Tallis illustration that No.421 is annotated as Brooks & Son, wholesale stationers, and I am now wondering if this has any connection to Vincent Brooks's lithographic printing company that would later amalgamate with Day & Sons, a mega-company that I talk about on my Covent Garden Ghostsigns guided walk... give me a minute... yep... here was John Brooks, the radical printer, the son being Vincent.

I love it when things cross-reference like that. 

Sticking my oar in

Here's another one that's been a long time festering in my inbox...

At 65 Gresham Street, on the corner of Aldermanbury, there is an office building with blue juliet balconies running around the first level. 

But, look closely to see that they resemble oars/paddles.

I've often wondered if these are a reference to one of the many livery companies in the area, specifically a company that uses boats, the prime candidate being the Company of Watermen and Lightermen. Perhaps these paddles could be a visual clue to property ownership, as per the Mercers' Maiden motifs...?

Having just looked into this today, I discover that 65 Gresham Street, a building constructed in 2000 for Legal & General that replaced Barrington House, is currently empty and plans are underway to refit the building, keeping most of the the exterior – read more here – yet the illustration within that link does not appear to show these intriguing bits of metal.

There is no mention in that link about the freeholder of the land on which it sits which still could be something to do with water. Any ideas? 

Do go and see them soon because they clearly aren't going to be in place much longer. They may well be scrapped or sold as architectural salvage. 

If you are associated with a rowing club or similar, these might be a worthy addition to your boathouse.

A house in Tudor Street, a ghostsign in Primrose Hill and a bit of Fleet Street history

This is about  a ghostsign that I have been trying to pin down for years, yet every time I end up going round in circles and I get nowhere, so I am posting it all here in the hope someone else can fill in the blanks.

24 Tudor Street, at the junction of Whitefriars Street, EC4, is a late Georgian 5-bay house, surely one of the oldest buildings in the vicinity (excluding Temple). It has, for over 140 years, been split into three businesses at street level, a barber, a store and a cafe, with, offices/residential above (tbc).

Google's aerial view shows how the old house backs onto a narrow street called Primrose Hill* no doubt named after flowers that once grew in its garden:

On the back of the house, high up on the right as you enter Primrose Hill from Whitefriars Street, there is a faded hand-painted advertisement for a company whose name appears to end in WERS. 

The major company adjacent to this sign from the 1890s was RT Tanner & Co, paper merchants, with large premises at 39-40 Hutton Street and 40-42 Salisbury Court. But the letters WERS do do tally with that company or any other businesses here for that matter. I'm wondering if it's a 1920's sign for a short-lived company as I have no immediate access to records for that period. 

The modern red bricks is Hutton Street (the rear of 22 Tudor Street) and the magnificent 1920's building is Northcliffe House built as the Daily Mail's HQ – surely a better example of this style of architecture than the M&S store that everyone's been banging on about (!).

Aware that a sign on a wall does not necessarily signify that the ad is for something within that actual building, I also searched in vain for possible candidates in adjacent Salisbury Court, an area layered in history but currently undergoing a large rebuilding project. Nothing.

Ah well, I will try again another day – do let me know if you have any ideas. 

I'd also like to find out the original owner of the house at 24 Tudor Street. The 1841 directory there are only two businesses listed in Tudor Street – William Farmer at No.2, a merchant (dealing in what?) and George Crouch, a bookseller and printer at No.5. However, the entry for Whitefriars, is more illuminating and suggests to me that the house might have been connected to one of the companies trading out of either of the two wharfs which would have been directly between the house and the river. 

I will update this info when I find out more.

Before returning to Whitefriars Street I walked through to Dorset Rise to marvel at the 1980's Neo Deco/Modernist Revival of the Travelodge – these days I am really heartened when I see this style whereas decades ago I would have derided it. This is the same reaction that what we call Art Deco would have garnered in its day, creating the Shards and Cheesegraters of their time.

Back to Whitefriars Street. As I crossed into Ashentree Court, I noticed a bespoke low relief in the pavement and an information panel in the window at the rear of Northcliffe House's most recent extension

This is the first of many panels telling the story of the building as well as technological and engineering processes behind the printing machinery housed here. It's hard to imagine today that this area was once a thriving, noisy environment, especially at night. All gone by 2000 by which time the newspapers had moved to Kensington and Canary Wharf. 

Here are some of the panels. Rubbish pics, so best you go and read them yourself next time you are walking through.

Ashentree Court merges into Magpie Alley where there's lots more info about Fleet Street imprinted onto the white-tiled walls – I spot something interesting every time. 

Exit onto Bouverie Street and turn left up towards Fleet Street, passing the Salisbury Court construction and 2021's large bizarre painted sundial where three panels tell more info about the heritage of Fleet Street and not just the newspapers.

View from the Fleet Street end of Bouverie Street looking down towards the Thames

That'll do!

*Confusing street names – the better-known Primrose Hill can be found just north of Regents Park. There's also another Hampton Court at the northern end end of Upper Street, Whetstone Park in Holborn and Cyprus is near London Airport.

Norbury and the high numbers (no, it's not a beat combo!)

Back in November 2022 I wrote about the 4-figure door numbers in Barnet. 

Subsequently, I'd had a brief look to see other similarly long roads in Greater London might have 4-figure door numbers, but I came up blank as regards Edgware Rd, Commercial Rd, Walworth Rd, and Old Kent Rd. 

The Fox & Hounds, No.1 London Road 

A few months ago, after visiting Croydon's marvellous Art Deco airport I was about to return home via West Croydon station when I noticed a bus heading towards Central London via the A23, so I hopped aboard for a top deck tour of South London. 

As I studied the screetscape to the side of me I noticed that the shops and houses bore door numbers in the high 1300s. Ooh. I was hooked. Up it went though the 1400s... 

... until it busted the Barnet ceiling of 1541...

...reaching its peak at Norbury Islamic Academy, 1595-7 London Road, mid-way between Norbury train station and the borough boundary designated by The River Graveney where the London Road meets the southern end of Streatham High Street.

An oddity along the way though...
does anyone have any idea what this 786 on No.1428 signifies?

All pics are screengrabs from Google Streetview