HMV, Oxford Street – Art Deco, glass bricks, Vitrolite and curved glass

A while ago I pulled together this collection of shops that still retain horizontal curved glass. I mused that there must have been other businesses making use of this innovative non-reflective window design and an anonymous contributor sent me a link to the image below at 363 HMV Oxford Street which clearly shows that the shop also had curved windows – look closely where the two men are looking into the windows on the left side and you'll make out some horizontal lines:

What a lovely image. HMV (The Gramophone Company) opened a shop here in 1921, but I suspect this façade was installed a few years later – perhaps someone can enlighten me as to the age of that vehicle.

As the wording across the store shows, they sold a variety goods, no doubt displayed on beautiful chromed and polished counters.

The shop interior has since been pulled apart, indeed gutted, but the elegant Vitrolite and glass brick exterior has survived virtually intact above street level. 

In 2018 the shop looked like this (here follows a series of screen grabs from googlemaps):

By 2012, with the demise of CD and DVD sales, HMV had left the building and Foot Locker moved in removing the neon letters 'HIS MASTER'S VOICE' and the iconic image of little Nipper the dog listening to a wind-up gramophone player :

HMV's signage was reinstated in 2013 when the record company returned to the site and reinstalled their branding. Here is it in until 2014 showing the neon around the dog:

But it was all gone again by 2022 when, for a short while, it became home to a US candy outlet.

In November 2023 I was walking past and happened to notice that the interior was empty apart from a team of shop fitters busy with ladders and power tools. Posters across exterior at street level announced that HMV was coming back. Whoopee!

My photo above shows that a new sign was partially in place. I hoped that Nipper and the old neon letters had been saved and would be somehow be reinstalled as part of the design.

Nope. Here it is this year, and they've even covered up their own building this time with something that looks horribly cheap and temporary:

An opportunity missed. I'm disappointed to say the least. 

Oh well. 

Let's get back to the street level window glass... here's that marvellous old black and white pic again...

I wondered if there was any more visual reference from the pre-WW2 years and found this next pic on RIBA's site here which clearly shows curved glass. 

RIBA has captioned and credited this image as 363 Oxford Street, but I am very doubtful that this is the same location because, comparing the first image with this one two images, it's clear that the façade is different – the large open plate glass windows on the upper floor rather than glass bricks, no flat areas of black Vitrolite, and the arrangement of street level windows is shown to be flush with the street rather than angled as in the first pic. 

I therefore deduce that RIBA's image is a totally different HMV store. It could be another large central London store, but might be somewhere else in the country. Any ideas?

Another thing of interest on the 363 Oxford Street store is this plaque commemorating Sir George Martin and The Beatles:

 

The shops of Fortis Green Road, Muswell Hill

Ooh I do love an old shop front, especially if it still retains its original curved window and tiled entrance. London has lost most of these beautiful old shops – only solitary examples remain here and there hinting at how the whole terrace might have looked 100 years ago.
Often the best examples of this kind are found outside London, say in seaside towns that lost favour at the end of the last century such as Leigh-On-Sea, Walton-On-Thames, Margate or Southsea, all of which have more recently become appreciated (as have their house prices).
However, some really good examples of early 20th century shopping streets can be found in Muswell Hill, London N10 and, in particular along the southern end of Fortis Green Road.

Some of the lovely old tiles are still visible. However, some of them have been painted over as shown in the middle row. Why oh why?

Walking north from the Art Deco cinema at the junction of Muswell Hill Broadway up to Queen's Avenue notice how almost every doorway on both sides of Fortis Green Road still retains its original curved window and tiled entrances leading to the upstairs apartments.
Also, be sure to stop and admire New Century Barbers on the corner of First Avenue, which also retains some fabulous period features and signs, and has a lot of archive photos of the local area.

A well known London street

Next time you are out shopping in Central London take a break and look up and around you at some of the gorgeous architectural details.
These images were all taken in a 500 metre stretch of one busy street.

The changing face of Tottenham Lane

The Broadway and Clock Tower area still has a few hints here and there of it's Edwardian hey day (actually, that's a thought: is it busier/ more popular now?!) and at some point soon I need to put together another Crouch End collection.
I was out for a walk last weekend when I spotted a pair of shops signs I hadn't seen before just north of Crouch End Broadway. They've probably been visible for a while, but I hadn't been in that stretch of Tottenham Lane for more than a year.
The signs show how the shop used to be split into two complete with lovely signs and panelled bubble-glass windows. I am really pleased to see that the latest owners have seen fit to leave these lovely old examples of hand-lettering on show, although those spot lights did rather ruin the composition of my photographs(!). We can now see that there was Margaretta, a high class dress maker at No.46a, and Rickard's shoe repairs at No.40.
I continued my walk north along Tottenham Lane towards Hornsey Station. On the right hand side of the road I stopped to take a snap of Broad Lane (pic 2). It's an evocative little thoroughfare but not that broad at all. But probably back in the day everywhere else was just footpaths and alleys? Or did broads hang out there (!).
Close by is a doorway that retains an element of Edwardian wooden door structure and some floor tiles (pic 3), albeit partially obscured where the wall has been moved perpendicular to the street at some point. The hardware shop further along shows how the doorway used to look, complete with curved entrance and tessellated tiles (pic 4, image squished vertically to fit box!).

The pics on the middle row show some changing facsias. Back in June 2008 the curved row of shops at the junction of Tottenham Lane and Church Lane had been emptied out. Pic 5 shows how the arched Edwardian shop fronts on Church Lane where more or less intact at that point. Pic 6 is a google streetview pic which shows how the two doorways along that side have been removed to, I assume, create a larger space for rent. As I write this the space is still empty. See the full 2008 image here and the rest of the terrace to the right.
But I am more upset about the loss of the old sign for A. J. Bicknell, boot & shoe repairer, which used to sit facing/adjacent to the curved terrace at No. 43 (pic 7). As you can see by pic 8, taken last week, it has been covered up by Tuckers CRIMINAL solicitors. Oh the irony. I am hoping that it's still under because the new sign looks to be quite thick. And, what would be the point in destroying the old one? But hey, stranger, more annoying things have happened – see here.
Next door is George's Fish Bar (pic 9) which has an interesting interior. I will be writing about that in a subsequent post.
The hand-painted sign for Highgate Optical Manufacturing Co., along with its lovely little manicule pointing towards the goods entrance, has also bitten the dust. Pic 11 is a snap from google streetview which shows the wall has been given a lick of paint (the wall has since been painted white).
So now I am keeping my eye on that cute little hut directly over the road currently used by Cyrpus Car Service. I suspect this originally used to be a shop or kiosk connected to Hornsey Station. A new awning wouldn't go amiss there!
As usual... watch this space...