Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat is a Grade II* listed building in the Camden local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 May 1974. Department store, warehouse. 50 related planning applications.
Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat
- WRENN ID
- second-finial-nightshade
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Camden
- Constituency
- Holborn and St Pancras
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 May 1974
- Type
- Department store, warehouse
- Address
- Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat, 191-199, Tottenham Court Road
- OS grid reference
- TQ 295 819
- Coordinates
- 51.52123, -0.13438
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The building comprises a department store and warehouse, constructed in phases between 1914 and 1962. The original central section, spanning five bays, was designed in 1914-17 by Cecil C Brewer and A Dunbar Smith, with a southern extension of five bays added in 1936-8 by Edward Maufe. A further northern extension of seven bays, designed in a complementary style by Fitzroy Robinson and Partners, was completed in 1961-2. The structure is faced with Portland stone on a steel frame, capped by a pantiled mansard roof with dormers.
The central and southern sections exhibit a stripped Classical style, characterised by free-standing octagonal columns with bronze bases and caps, supporting a plain entablature. Plate glass display windows are recessed behind an arcade. The upper storeys feature piers rising above the columns to abbreviated capitals and a deep entablature incorporating enriched cornices and incised Roman lettering indicating the dates 1810, 1916, and 1937, along with the name "Heal and Son" twice. The window bays are arranged in a rhythmic pattern of single and triple lights, separated by stone pilasters, with close-paned steel windows for the first two storeys and continuous recessed steel windows on the third. Spandrels between the first and second floors depict low-relief cast metal panels, designed by Joseph Armitage, showcasing various goods such as textiles, sheep shears, a bed, teazle, pottery wheel, and vase.
The northern extension continues the rhythmic bay arrangement and storey heights, with a similarly styled entablature. An entrance is located in the right-hand bay, featuring a projecting hood displaying the royal coat of arms. The ground-floor display windows, set back behind curving non-reflective glass, extend to Torrington Place. The attic is recessed with a flat roof and a projecting frame for window cleaning. The spandrels between the first and second floors are filled with ceramic blue and cream relief panels designed by John Farleigh and made by Kenneth Clark; these depict wares intermingled with the letter "H" for Heals.
The interior is notable for a circular wooden staircase located at the rear of the store, constructed as part of the 1914-17 building work by Smith and Brewer. Both the Heals and Habitat sections are accessed through the 1960s building at ground-floor level, and their internal layouts show no clear division corresponding to the building's various construction phases, instead spanning multiple floors.
Local climate
Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 2 transactions since 2021
- Related listed building consents — 50 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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