233 Shaftesbury Avenue

No. 233 Shaftesbury Avenue is a speculative office block built between 1927 and 1929 by the architectural firm Hobden & Porri, with carved details possibly by Henry Poole. The building features a steel frame faced in Portland stone and is designed in a Neo Egyptian style.

It stands six storeys tall and has a six-bay range. The bay on the right includes vertically set slit lights grouped in threes, leading to a full-height stairwell. Above the stairwell, there is a carved Pharaoh's head situated above a fluted coved cornice, with a winged disc, a symbol of the god Horus, positioned over a square-headed doorway that has a moulded architrave. To the left, the entrance front consists of three bays, featuring columns with cushion capitals set in a slightly projecting portico. This portico also showcases a winged disc feature within a coved palm-leaf cornice, and there is a square-headed glazed entrance.

The upper floors are adorned with metal framed windows and metal spandrel panels, which include palm-leaf and Classical detailing. These elements are recessed between a giant order of piers that extend to flattened palm-leaf capitals, beneath a plain frieze featuring a central winged disc. The building is topped with an attic storey that has square-headed windows and a boldly projecting cornice with palm-leaf carving.

The interior has not been inspected.