Description

TQ2981NE
798-1/99/1640

CAMDEN
TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD (East side)
Nos.191-199 (Consecutive) Heal and Son Ltd including Habitat

(Formerly Listed as: TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD Nos.193-199 (Consecutive)
Heal & Son Ltd)

14/05/74

GV
II*
Includes: Nos.18-26 TORRINGTON PLACE.

Department store and warehouse. Original central section of frontage five-window bays 1914-17 by Cecil C Brewer and A Dunbar Smith; southern extension of five bays with identical style of elevation 1936-8 by Edward Maufe; northern extension of seven bays in a complementary idiom of 1961-2 by Fitzroy Robinson and Partners. Portland stone facing on a steel frame throughout. Pantiled mansard roof with dormers.

EXTERIOR: Four storeys, attic and basement. Central and southern section in stripped Classical style have free-standing octagonal columns with bronze bases and caps to ground floor carrying plain entablature. Plate glass display windows are set back behind an arcade. On upper storeys, piers rise above columns to abbreviated capitals and deep entablature having enriched cornice and incised Roman lettering with the dates MDCCCX, MCMXVI and MCMXXXVII and the name "Heal and Son" (twice). The voids between the piers in alternating rhythm of single and triple lights divided by stone pilasters and filled with close-paned steel windows for two storeys, and continuous steel windows recessed on the third storey. The spandrels between first and second floors carry cast metal panels in low relief with colour designed by Joseph Armitage and depicting various wares and implements, eg. textiles, sheep shears, a bed, teazle, pottery wheel and vase.

The northern extension has a similar rhythm of bays and identical storey heights with the entablatures ranging through. Entrance in right hand bay with projecting hood bearing the royal coat of arms. Square piers to the ground floor, the set back display windows on the front and return to Torrington Place having curving non-reflective glass. Attic recessed with flat roof and projecting frame for window-cleaning cradle. The windows between piers of larger steel sections, the spandrels between first and second floors here filled with ceramic blue and cream relief panels designed by John Farleigh and made by Kenneth Clark and depicting wares interspersed with large letters "H" for Heals.

INTERIOR: notable chiefly for the circular wooden staircase within a well at the rear of the store, built as part of the Smith and Brewer work in 1914-17. Both Heals and Habitat are entered through the 1960s building at ground-floor level and their plans are confusing on the other floors; they have no division corresponding to the periods of the building but over-and-undersail each over.

Listing NGR: TQ2953181906

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17548827

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990