368-370, OXFORD STREET

This is a shop, dating from the early 20th century, with a significant Art Deco style façade applied around 1937 to an otherwise Edwardian building. Minor later alterations have been made to the exterior, and the ground floor interior has undergone substantial modernization in the late 20th century.

The exterior is characterized by a stock brick building with a white faience Art Deco façade. The frontage is largely unaltered, featuring a wide, two-storey shop front to the ground and first floors, and a shallow oriel window extending over the upper three storeys. A flat parapet conceals the pitched slate roof of the original Edwardian structure. The shop front has a chrome surround and retains its original ceramic surround decorated with a blockish, leaf-patterned border; the glazing is modern. The oriel window above features concave fluted sides in green tile, and a balconette faced with white tiles in a swirling, geometric Art Deco design. The edges of the floor plates, visible through the windows, are also fluted. The return wall to Gees Court is of stock brick and displays red brick segmental arched windows and dressings typical of an Edwardian building, contrasting with the 1930s façade.

The interior of the ground floor, which serves as the retail space, has been largely modernized and is considered to be lacking in special interest.

The building originally formed part of a block of shops dating to the first decade of the 20th century, during a period of redevelopment along Oxford Street. Previously, the block consisted of four units. A photograph taken after 1928, coinciding with the completion of the nearby Selfridges building, shows the building with a red-brick gabled frontage, stone dressings, and bay windows, similar to its present-day neighbors. Initially occupied by a costumier, Peter Bradley, in 1938, the shop’s re-facing likely represents a cost-effective way of achieving a modern appearance, possibly commissioned by Mr. Bradley.

The building is designated at Grade II for its architectural interest as an elegant and distinctive example of Art Deco design. Its survival as a small retail building in this style is now relatively rare in London’s West End.