California House is a Grade II listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. Commercial.
California House
- WRENN ID
- frozen-rotunda-aspen
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Westminster
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Type
- Commercial
- Address
- California House, 36-39, Essex Street Wc2, City of Westminster
- OS grid reference
- TQ 310 809
- Coordinates
- 51.5126, -0.11254
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
California House is a Grade II listed office building located on Essex Street in the City of Westminster. It was constructed in 1892 by the architectural partnership of Robert Lempriere Hesketh and Walter Stokes and originally consisted of two houses of unequal size. The building is made of buff terracotta and features extensive decorative elements inspired by Flemish Renaissance design.
The structure has three storeys, a basement, and an attic, with a total of 14 closely set windows. There are two doorways, positioned towards the left and center-right, featuring panelled and glazed doors with rectangular fanlights set in pilaster jambs beneath entablature-lintels. The first-floor windows are recessed plate glass sashes within enriched surrounds, flanked by pilasters. The southernmost bay and two others project slightly, each flanked on every floor by engaged enriched columns that support pediments of varying designs.
The building is adorned with elaborate arabesque friezes above the ground and first floors, as well as a modillion eaves cornice. At the corner of Devereux Court, there are clustered columns and quoin pilasters on each floor. Additionally, cast iron ornamental area railings enhance the building's exterior.
Local climate
California House 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- 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
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