Unilever House
| Unilever House | |
|---|---|
 Unilever House from Blackfriars Bridge, view from the south |
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| Data | |
| place | London |
| builder | James Lomax-Simpson, Sir John Burnet & Partners |
| Construction year | 1929-1933 |
| Floor space | 35,813 m² |
| Coordinates | 51 ° 30 ′ 42 ″ N , 0 ° 6 ′ 17 ″ W |
| particularities | |
| Participants: Thomas S. Tait Sculptures: William Reid Dick Gilbert Ledward Walter Gilbert Eric Gill |
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Unilever House is a Grade II listed office building in the neoclassical Art Deco style on New Bridge Street, Victoria Embankment in Blackfriars , London. The building has a tall, curving facade overlooking the north bank of the Thames and Blackfriars Bridge .
The site was previously occupied by Bridewell Palace , the residence of Henry VIII , which later became an almshouse and prison. These buildings were demolished in 1864 to make way for the De Keyser Hotel Royal . In 1920 William Lever (Lord Leverhulme) leased the site to build the London headquarters of his soap company Lever Brothers . The construction work did not begin until 1929; the following year the company merged with Margarine Unie to become Unilever , which then gave the building its name.
Establishment
It is believed that the planning and construction management is a collaboration between James Lomax-Simpson, a member of the Unilever Board of Directors, on the one hand, and John James Burnet and Thomas S. Tait , partners of Sir John Burnet and Partners . But one is unsure who is responsible for the design; a note from Simpson claims responsibility for it solely to himself, suggesting that Burnet and Tait merely approved of the final design. On the other hand, the Burnet and Tait plans were exhibited as a joint work with Simpson at the Royal Academy , and the drawings kept in the City of London Record Office are only signed by Burnet and Tait.
Although John James Burnet was actively involved in this project, at the same time he withdrew for health reasons, so that Tait, a leading practitioner of modern architecture, appears to have worked out the actual construction plans.
architecture
The most striking feature of the building is its enormous curved facade along the Victoria Embankment , with its huge Ionic columns between the fourth and sixth floors. The very rustic ground floor has no windows to reduce traffic noise inside the building. The corners are provided with entrances on large pedestals on which sculptures of human figures hold horses back ( Controlled Energy , by Sir William Reid Dick ). The characters merman and mermaid are by Gilbert Ledward. The elevators were lined with Art Deco pewter panels by Eric Gill.
renovation
During the renovation from 1977 to 1983, parapet figures by Nicholas Munro and a new northern entrance hall in a neo Art Deco style by Theo Crosby of the Pentagram design office were created. The building was also expanded along Tudor Street.
In 2004, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates began renovating the interior in consultation with English Heritage and the City of London . During the renovation, original fittings were retained or reused, such as the parquet flooring and Eric Gill's pewter elevator panels, but Crosby's distinctive and historically important additions were removed. A roof garden was created on the roof of the building.
gallery
The curved neoclassical building front
The Unilever monogram
Decorative details
The entrance door
Sculpture of a man and a horse at Unilever House ( Controlled Energy , Sir William Reid Dick ), 1933, from left
Counterpart: Sculpture of a woman and a horse at Unilever House ( Controlled Energy , Sir William Reid Dick), 1933, from right
Unilever House, River Thames and Blackfriars Bridge , London, at night
Unilever House, River Thames and Blackfriars Bridge, London, at night
Individual evidence
- ^ Anthony Sutcliffe : The Modern Breaks Through, 1914-1939 . In: London: An Architectural History . Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-300-11006-7 .
- ↑ James L. Howgego: The Victorian and Edwardian City of London from Old Photographs . Batsford, 1977, ISBN 9780713405989 .
- ^ A b Nikolaus Pevsner, Bradley, Simon: the Buildings of England , Volume London 1: the City of London. Penguin, 1997, ISBN 9780300096521 (Retrieved November 20, 2008).
- ^ Unilever Building . Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
- ↑ Unilever House Archived from the original on June 26, 2006. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Open House / ACE (Ed.): Open site 2005 . 2005. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
- ^ Philip Ward-Jackson: Public Sculpture of the City of London (Public Sculpture of Britain). Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 2003, ISBN 978-0853239772 , p. 278. Retrieved August 30, 2010
- ↑ These additions are shown in No.9 Unilever House: Towards A New Ornament . In Pentagram Partners (Author), Delphine Hirasuna (Editor): Pentagram Papers. Chronicle Books, 2006, ISBN 978-0811855631 . Crosby argues that his work on Unilever House was part of a necessary "shift in focus" in construction to reduce the scale at which structures are viewed and "revive the responsible craftsman".
- ↑ Unilever House, London, United Kingdom . Design Build Network. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
