Wallis Gilbert and partners. My manor/respect your elders.

Name: EMI Building
Date: 1927-29
Architect: Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Borough: Hillingdon
Listing:-
Notes: Part of a complex of EMI buildings in Hayes built between 1906 and 1929, (and opposite the Gramophone Building), this factory was designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners. Some of the buildings have been redeveloped as London Gate Business Park

Name: Hoover Building
Date: 1932-38
Architect: Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Borough: Ealing
Listing: Main Building (top) Grade II*, Canteen Block (below) Grade II*
Notes:  The Wallis, Gilbert and Partners designed Hoover Building is one of the most iconic of the 1930's Art Deco factories. The site contained offices, a factory and staff canteens. Hoover left the building in the 1980's and it was empty for many years. It now houses a variety of companies, with the rear converted into a supermarket. 

Name: Glaxo Factory
Date: 1935
Architect: Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Borough: Ealing
Listing: Grade II
Notes: Built in 1935 as a headquarters and factory for the Glaxo Corporation, this building is located in Greenford, close to Western Avenue.  

Name:  Hayes Cocoa Factory
Date: 1932
Architect: Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Borough: Hillingdon
Listing:
Notes: This Wallis, Gilbert and Partners factory was built on the site of for Hayes Cocoa Limited in 1932, and was later taken over by the Nestle corporation. It is currently being redeveloped into housing, with the art deco facade kept intact. 

Name: Perfume House, North Acton
Date: 1939
Architect:  Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Borough: Ealing
Listing:
Notes: Factory for Elizabeth Arden in North Acton, designed just before the outbreak of World War II. Now demolished and turned into housing.

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Name: Factory, Sir William Burnett & Co Chemicals
Date: 1933
Architect: Wallis, Gilbert & Partners
Borough: Hounslow
Listing:
Notes: Factory and offices built for Sir William Burnett & Co Chemicals, a timber merchants who also manufactured soldering pastes. The building is due to be turned into flats.  

Name: Wallis House
Date: 1936-42
Architect: Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Borough: Hounslow
Listing: Grade II
Notes: Part of the Wallis, Gilbert and Partners buildings on the Golden Mile in Brentford, this building was designed for Simmonds Aerocessories. Now Grade II listed and converted into 
apartments.  




Old Coty Cosmetics building

Architect: Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Location: Great West Road, Brentford

The Firestone Building was a distinguished example of Art Deco, built for the American tyre manufacturers, the Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio by architects Wallis, Gilbert and Partners.  The design of the whole building, not just the façade, was based on that of an Egyptian temple.

When the company decided to cease production on the Great West Road in Brentford, they sold the land for development. A call from the Department of the Environment to the developers in August 1980 alerted them that the minister, Michael Heseltine, was going to list the building. This happened on a Tuesday and on the Sunday bulldozers were sent in to demolish the façade. It was a calculated act of philistinism and caused public outrage.

It was the first serious case for the C20 Society (then the Thirties Society).  In retrospect, this loss boosted the society’s cause. Michael Heseltine ordered his historic buildings staff at the Department of the Environment to begin an ‘accelerated survey’ of listing, opening the lists to many more pre-1939 buildings.

The Great West Road was once known as The Golden Mile. The factories along it were built in the late 1920s and the early 1930s, often by American companies which relied on advertising to promote their products. The factories themselves were used as advertising, which is why they were so eye-catching and exciting.

The Firestone factory was designed in 3 weeks by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners and built in 18 weeks. The firm was famous in its day for its industrial buildings, for example, the Hoover building, in Perivale, Wrigley’s factory in Wembley, Huntley and Palmer’s in Reading, the Victoria Coach Station, and Glaxo in Greenford.

Victoria coach station

Name: Wrigley Factory
Date: 1927
Architect: Wallis, Gilbert and Partners
Borough: Brent
Listing:
Notes: Now the Wembley Commercial Centre, Wrigley’s factory was built in 1927, and was designed by the firm of Wallis, Gilbert and Partners. 

See Also- Wallis Gilbert & Partners