156-162, Oxford Street W1 is a Grade II* listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. First listed on 21 August 1975. A Edwardian Office building. 12 related planning applications.
156-162, Oxford Street W1
- WRENN ID
- tilted-postern-rye
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Westminster
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 21 August 1975
- Type
- Office building
- Period
- Edwardian
- Address
- 156-162, Oxford Street W1, City of Westminster
- OS grid reference
- TQ 292 813
- Coordinates
- 51.516, -0.13827
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Nos. 156 to 162 on Oxford Street is a Grade II* listed office corner block built between 1906 and 1908 by architects Belcher and Joass. This building is an early example of a steel-framed structure, faced with Pentelikon marble and topped with a slate roof. It showcases a striking Mannerist style that incorporates classical details while maximizing the glazing benefits of the steel frame.
The building stands five storeys tall, including a ground floor and mezzanine podium, as well as an attic storey with a stone dormered mansard. Each front is four bays wide, with a splayed corner. The ground floor and mezzanine are articulated by tall Doric columns that support square panelled pillars. These pillars carry coupled columns, which in turn support wide elliptical arches. This design frames the tripartite glazing of the upper floors, featuring "applied" central architraved openings adorned with Mannerist cornices and broken pediments, all set against marble-faced aprons, culminating in lunettes on the third floor.
A projecting cornice below the attic storey is finished with a blocking course, with a stone dormer rising from the centre of each bay. This building can be compared to the former Royal Insurance offices designed by the same architects at the corner of Piccadilly and St James's, as well as Holden's building at 429 Strand.
Local climate
156-162, Oxford Street W1 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.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 12 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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