We are very fortunate in London to be surrounded by a great variety of architecture, including landmark examples of every conceivable style and era, from the earliest Roman remains to the striking 21st-century skyscrapers in The City of London. As a practice that works extensively on existing buildings in London, it's always a privilege to be invited to refurbish and restore buildings that occupy a special architectural and social place in history, and in London, that's more often than not!

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We particularly love refurbishment and renovation projects, because they simultaneously embody our principles of sustainability and satisfy our profound reverence for historic buildings. So we are especially delighted to be starting a new project in Streatham with the restoration of a former Burton Menswear store at 103-105 High Road.

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In the 1920s, before the great depression, Burton retained the talented Leeds-based architect Harry Wilson to design its new stores and a few years later Burton set up its in-house Architects Department with Wilson at the helm. Together with his architects, Wilson worked hand-in-hand with Burton’s shopfitting and building departments throughout the 1920s and 1930s to design hundreds of new Burton shops from Aberystwyth to Yeovil.

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Wilson's style is emblematic of the confidence of post-First World War retail development, and his Art Deco style varies from the more restrained red-brick with neoclassical scroll-headed columns to fully-bore geometric Art Deco. Wilson also deployed standard elements, many now lost to previous renovations, including polished black granite bands, metal vent grates bearing the company logo, and mosaic titles in the doorways.

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103-105 High Road is exemplary of Wilson's designs, and although it shows signs of neglect, it still retains much of its exuberant facade and Wilson's hallmark lexicon of abstract Art Deco geometric motifs, acute angles, stepped features, and his signature elephant heads.

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The ground floor has been operated as a bar and restaurant since 2011 under the name "Pratt and Payne", harking back to Pratt's department store, a locally famous symbol of opulence that closed in 1990, and Cynthia Payne, a notorious Madam of the 70s and 80s, who scandalised the nation. The name "Pratt and Payne" is a great example of Streatham's community celebrating its history in a fond and playful way.

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So we are tremendously excited to begin work on this iconic building, to restore as much of its lost grandeur as possible and to bring the building back closer to Wilson's original vision. Streatham High Road is rich in architectural treasures including the Odeon and ABC Art Deco cinemas, the Free Tate Library, the Police Station, and St. Leonard’s Church, to name a few. It's no surprise then that Streatham High Road is a conservation area, and we'll be working closely with our client and the planning office to develop proposals to preserve this building for generations to come.