'HAT
FACTORY.
HENRY
HEATH, Oxford Street'
which stands just off
Wardour Street in Hollen Street at the
rear of premises fronting Oxford Street. Redolent of a period when a
hat was such an essential part of the attire of men, women and children
that large factories in the centre of town produced them in abundance.
'+
SAINT+
... PATRICK'S ... SCHOOLS
... +
SOHO+
'
displayed in individual
terra cotta panels
between the first and second storey white framed windows. The very
decorative font used expands and contracts to fill the available
standard spacing of each panel (the outer panels are much narrower,
carrying decoration, to reflect the narrower windows above and below).
The words 'Saint' and 'Soho' are extended with motifs at beginning and
end of the words, while 'Schools' is condensed and 'Patrick's' even
more so. This building has been exposed by one of the many Crossrail
workings in the centre of London (autumn 2011) which has seen
clearances of some buildings. The lettered face was photographed from
behind shuttering at the other side of the buiding site.
'1880
WALTON
OLD
QUEEN'S
HEAD'
picked out in dark red,
condensed, sans
serif caps centred on a cartouche against the recently cream painted
stucco. Another few doors along and above the garish shop fronts - many
with their own narrow, individual architectural stylings above - is the
date '1900' picked out boldly in white against the red brick of a
decorative gable.
