Former Bentall's Department Store

Former Bentall's Department Store

A department store built between 1932 and 1935 by Maurice Everett Webb, rebuilt behind its retained facade in 1990-2. The building is constructed of pale brown brick and Portland stone.

The Exterior

The striking 31-bay facade wraps around the corner of Wood Street and Clarence Street, extending nearly 115 metres in length. It derives from English Baroque style as exemplified by Wren's extensions to Hampton Court, though reduced to three storeys rather than four. The ground floor forms a continuous stone basement with arched doorways at the end and centre bays, and square openings containing Classically-detailed bronze-framed shop fronts, some renewed in 1992. The first floor comprises an elongated piano nobile with very tall rectangular metal-framed windows, renewed in 1992, set within moulded stone surrounds whose heads rise into a broad stone band terminating in a cornice. The attic storey features circular windows with moulded keystone surrounds, with further cornice and stone-coped parapet above.

The eleven bays to Wood Street are arranged in the pattern 1-7-3-7-1, with the single return bay at the northern end being a modern facsimile. The three-bay centrepiece is entirely of stone, treated as a temple front with paired Corinthian half-columns and pilasters supporting a triangular pediment containing a heraldic cartouche. Three arched openings at ground level feature elongated keystones that break through the cornice above; the two outer openings each contain two pairs of glazed bronze-framed doors. Curving bronze brackets set in the spandrels above support hourglass-shaped lanterns with uplighters and globe lamps. Square windows and a balustraded parapet with piers topped by four tall flagpoles crown this centrepiece. The outer bays at north and south ends also have arched ground-floor openings with carved keystones bearing the Bentall's insignia, with first-floor windows above having projecting cornices on consoles. A barrel-shaped bronze post-box is set into the wall next to the south doorway. Alternating stone quoins decorate the outer corners, with urns on the parapet above.

The seven-bay elevation to Clarence Street has arched openings at both ends but is otherwise identical to the flanking wings of the Wood Street front. The corner section forms a five-bay quadrant, slightly recessed. At street level, a canopy projects over a series of shop windows separated by bronze half-columns, though the original non-reflective concave glass has been lost. Square attic windows with shouldered surrounds occupy the upper floor, those in the outer bays framed by relief carvings by Eric Gill showing figures amid foliage, while the centre window was replaced by a solid stone panel bearing the Bentall's crest in high relief. The parapet, restored in 1992, bears the company name in inset stone lettering and supports four additional flagpoles.

Modern shopping centre exteriors on either side of the retained facade are not of special interest.

The Interiors

The only surviving 1930s interior is the semi-circular Wood Street entrance lobby, reconstructed in its original location in 1992 using a mixture of new and old materials. It features Egyptianesque columns of Travertine with gilded capitals supporting an illuminated glazed architrave. The renewed ceiling includes an illuminated sunburst above the doorway. Behind the colonnade stands a series of bronze-framed kiosks separated by stained-glass roundels displaying the arms of Kingston upon Thames and the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Essex and Sussex. Other interiors date from the 1990s rebuilding and are not of special interest.

Historical Context

In 1867, the retailer Frank Bentall opened a small drapery shop in Kingston upon Thames. The venture proved markedly successful, and the firm later expanded geographically, opening branches in several towns across southern England. Around 1930, the then proprietor Leonard Bentall engaged the architects Sir Aston Webb and Son, by that time headed by Sir Aston's eldest son Maurice, to design a vast new department store on the original Kingston site, occupying more than a hectare at the corner of Clarence Street and Wood Street.

Construction was carried out by a large team of contractors led by John Mowlem & Co., proceeding in two main phases to allow the store to transfer its operations gradually to the new building as its old premises were demolished. The first phase, comprising the Wood Street facade and the main shop floors behind, was completed by the end of 1932. Work on the Clarence Street section, including a quadrant corner block with sculptures by Eric Gill, was undertaken in 1934-5. A third phase, which would have extended the Clarence Street facade across a series of existing buildings and more than doubled its length, was never carried out. The new Bentall's was a steel-framed structure with an open-plan interior on five floors, featuring a central escalator hall rising through the full height of the building. Other features included a 750-seat restaurant, a 'mannequin theatre' for fashion shows, and a multi-storey car park across Wood Street to the north-west. Webb also designed a large furniture depository for the store, located at some distance in Hardman Road and now Grade II listed.

In 1990-2, the entire Bentall's site was redeveloped with the exception of Webb's facade, which was retained as the frontage to a new indoor shopping complex known as the Bentall Centre. The semicircular Wood Street entrance lobby was reconstructed in its original location.

Maurice Everett Webb (1880-1939) was the elder son of Sir Aston Webb, one of the leading architects of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Maurice began his career as an assistant to his father and subsequently led the family firm, which continued to be known as Sir Aston Webb and Son. Early in his career he designed a number of war memorials, including that at the Royal Exchange in the City of London. His later works, many of which are Grade II listed, include university buildings such as those at Pembroke College and Wesley House in Cambridge; schools including the Memorial Reading Room at Malvern College in Worcestershire; commercial premises such as the Commercial Union Assurance building on Cornhill in London; and Government buildings including the Guildhall in Kingston upon Thames and the Governor's House at Nicosia in Cyprus. He also continued several of his father's projects, including Birmingham University, Imperial College and the restoration of St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, London. He served as president of the Architectural Association and vice-president of the RIBA.