Front Range (Blocks 1 And 2) Ex-Headquarters, Glaxo Building

Front Range (Blocks 1 and 2) of the Former Glaxo Laboratories Headquarters

The front range of the former headquarters of Glaxo Laboratories Ltd was designed in 1935 by Wallis Gilbert & Partners. The building has undergone later 20th-century alterations.

The structure consists of steel-framed construction on concrete foundations, faced in sand-limed brick with artificial stone cills. A deep sub-ground floor plinth is faced with white cement rendering, which changes to stone on the features flanking the entrance.

The front range comprises two two-storey blocks with a basement beneath the southern wing, forming the main frontage of the site parallel to Greenford Road. The buildings were approached from the north, with the smaller research building visible first on arrival, anticipating the symmetrical main administrative and research range. The southern elevation of the main range, with its buttresses and piers, overlooked the open space within the site and would have been visible from the southern approach on the Greenford bypass before tree cover developed. Laboratory and production areas attached to the rear of the administrative wing are not of special interest.

On the main east-facing elevation, horizontal ranges of windows on two storeys are set between continuous concrete cills and parapets. The original metal-framed windows with larger panes have been replaced. These windows are set between black Oroglas acrylic panels, which are bolted on, replacing the original black Vitrolite panels that were attached by adhesive. The entrance, centrally placed on block 1, is marked by a prominent tower with a square-cut, stepped profile typical of commercial and industrial design of the period. This is flanked by two-storey wings set forward with glazed corner units, framing shaped stone-clad parapet walls and pedestals for torcheres that enclose a flight of rounded steps rising to the entrance. The entrance sits between curved profiled piers and beneath a faceted prow-like finial above the parapet. Above the entrance is a full-height, deeply recessed window in four horizontal sections, with the original glazing replaced. The upper floor bridge which originally linked the blocks has been replaced by a two-storey inserted bay echoing the main ranges on the front elevation, clearly an infill at the rear.

The southern elevation, designed to be viewed as a whole but now divided by the addition of a link to block 26, has a full lower storey within the plinth defined by concave buttress feet at the angles, which flank substantial incised drum piers. Most windows at the rear of the building have been replaced.

The entrance hall, the only internal area of architectural distinction, has been altered, reducing the significance of the surviving incised drum piers, stairs, shallow ceiling and window mouldings which remain. The interior layout, originally designed as open-plan offices with small offices for senior management and research laboratories, no longer has special interest.

The Greenford site was commissioned by Joseph Nathan & Company for the newly formed Glaxo Laboratories Ltd to provide offices, laboratories and a factory for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and foods. Glaxo had been registered by Joseph Nathan & Company in 1906 as the trademark for a pure and nutritional infant food milk. Joseph Nathan had emigrated to Australia in the mid-19th century and in 1904 set up the Defiance dried milk factory in New Zealand, making use of the country's milk surplus. His sons brought the business to England, and by 1911 Glaxo had become a household name in Britain, producing "The Food that Builds Bonnie Babies". The company grew to research and produce vitamin supplements and well-known products such as Ostermilk, Farex and Farley's rusks. On the pharmaceutical side it pioneered the production of internationally significant drugs including penicillin, cortisone and veterinary vaccines.

By the mid-1930s, Wallis Gilbert & Partners were well-established commercial architects with a pedigree of factory designs, and were the obvious choice for the new company. Glaxo Laboratories Ltd contributed to a notable group of buildings by this practice, all listed Grade II, which line the western inter-war arterial routes into London. These include Westlink House (1928), the former Coty factory (1933), and the former Simmonds Aero-accessories building of 1936 and 1937–42 on the Great West Road. Close to Greenford, facing the A40, is the former Hoover Factory (1932–5, Grade II*). The 1928 Firestone factory, also on the Great West Road, was demolished in 1980.

In plan, the buildings comprised a long administrative, research and office block facing Greenford Road, backed by the factory buildings and powerhouse. The factory itself was laid out on two floors, with manufacturing and preparation processes on the first floor and finished products despatched from the ground floor. The factory was divided into two main sections: the pharmaceutical division in the north wing and the food division in the south wing. The planning ideal was to obtain the maximum amount of space, light and air for each worker, with the result that all parts of the factory conveyed a pleasing effect of lightness and cleanliness. The factory addressed the topical interest in providing a healthy work environment and was noted for its practical layout, finishes and flooring appropriate to each function. At the south-west corner of the site was a canteen and tennis courts overlooking the canal, taking advantage of the open and countrified nature of the site.