Great West Road | >Re-PHOTO

More from the Golden Mile continues from where my previous post on my walk on Sunday 7th January 1990, Curry’s, Firestone, A Fountain & Kluwer – 1990, ended. This is my final post on this walk.

*Adini, 891, Great West Rd, Isleworth, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-12*

Just to the west of Syon Lane on the Great West Road in Isleworth is this 1933 Art Deco factory by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners built for William Burnett Chemicals. This was the furthest west of the 1930s commercial buildings on the new road and past it are residential properties in the north of Isleworth and Osterley.

The building is I think still in use by fashion clothing firm Adini. In 2023 Hounslow Council turned down a planning application to develop the site retaining and restoring this locally listed Art Deco building but with two six storey blocks containing 51 flats on the site. The developers appealed and I am not sure of the current state of the proposal.

*Softsel, 941, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1h-65*

I hadn’t finished with the ‘Golden Mile’ and turned around and walked east back into Brentford along the Great West Road. 941, the occupied by Softsel was another building by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners for cosmetics company Coty.

This building is now the private Syon Clinic.

*Steps, 971, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1h-66*

Another grand set of steps led up to the factory of Leonard Williams Ltd, who made Packard cars here from 1929. Queensway in 1990 it now leads to DFS Brentford Sofa & Furniture Store, but only these steps remain of the previous building.

Pyrene Building, Westlink House, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1h-51 — *Pyrene Building, Westlink House, 981, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1h-51*

Built 1929-1930 by Wallis, Gilbert & Partners for Pyrene, makers of fire extinguishers it is Grade II listed. The main windows here had already been altered by 1990.

*Pyrene Building, Westlink House, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1h-44*

This grand entrance and the gate posts are perhaps the most interesting feature of the building. The building now provides tailor-made office space for companies of all sizes.

I still hadn’t quite finished with the Golden Mile, but my final pictures were a set of five pictures of the remarkable former Curry’s HQ at 991 Great West Road which featured in an earlier post – you can see them starting here on Flickr.

*Grand Union Canal, Great West Rd, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1h-34*

I ended my walk by with a final picture looking south from the bridge which takes the Great West Road over the here combined River Brent and the Grand Union Canal before getting away from the noise and dust of the road and walking along the canal towpath to Brentford High Street where I could catch a bus to start my journey home.

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Curry’s, Firestone, A Fountain & Kluwer continues from where my previous post about my walk on Sunday 7th January 1990 In Memory of Macleans & Trico – 1990 ended.

Warehouse, 991, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-42 — *Former Curry’s, 991, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-42*

Warehouse and offices built in 1935-6 by F E Simpkins as a distribution centre for Curry’s Ltd. Grade II listed in 1994. Curry’s lost their headquarters building when it was taken over during the war to make aircraft parts. But in 1996 they opened a new superstore a few yards down the road at 971, a site where from 1929 Packard Cars were built; it had beenbadly damaged by a V2 in March 1945, but was rebuilt and became an annexe to Sperry Gyroscope until they moved to Bracknell in 1966.

In 1990, 991 Great West Road was Cooper West London Service. After some years of disuse in 2000 it became the offices of JC Decaux.

*Gate, Firestone Tyre Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-43*

Closed in 1979, the factory was bought by Trafalgar House and demolished during the 1980 August bank holiday to preempt its listing, due to be announced two days later. It was one of the finest buildings designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners and only the second to be opened on the Great West Rd in 1928.

*Gate, Firestone Tyre Factory, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-31*

Its demolition was widely condemned as an act of architectural vandalism by architectural critics, many of whom would gladly have lain down in front of the bulldozers had they known about it in time. It’s demolition led directly to the listing of at least 150 twentieth century buildings previously ignored, though too many remained unprotected and have been lost.

Many of us felt that Lord Victor Matthews who ordered the instant demolition to avoid listing should have been in some way brought to justice – or at least have his life peerage removed. But nothing was done.

*Fountain, Great West Road, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-35*

The building at the left of this image is the former Coty Cosmetics Factory at 941 Great West Road from 1932 by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners, now Syon Clinic, and to the right an odd structure outside Homebase. This fountain must have been close to the corner of Shield Drive, perhaps to distract attention from the bland and mediocre more recent buildings in the area.

*Kluwer Publishing, Harlequin Avenue, Brentford, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-22*

Harlequin Avenue runs north from the Great West Road and is still lined by factories and commercial buildings, few of much architectural interest. Kluwer Publishing was perhaps the exception but this building has since been demolished.

*Gilette, Syon Lane, Isleworth, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-26*

The Gillette building at the corner of the Great West Road and Syon Lane marks the western end of Brentford’s ‘Golden Mile’. To the west of here the land was owned by the Church Commissioners who only permitted residential development in Osterly.

Designed by Sir Banister Flight Fletcher in 1936-7, Gillette continued to make razor blades here until production was moved to Poland in 2006. The tall tower can be seen from miles away in this flat corner of Middlesex.

*Gilette, Syon Lane, Isleworth, Hounslow, 1990, 90-1g-11*

Plans to convert the building into a hotel and small business park fell through and in 2013 the site was purchased by The Vinyl Factory and made available for filming, at first with four large stages. Plans were approved in 2025 to make more of the site available for filming while preserving the Grade II listed building – and are expected to provide more than 3,400 permanent jobs.

More from my walk in the next instalment.

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Tag: Great West Road

More from the Golden Mile, Brentford – 1990

Curry’s, Firestone, A Fountain & Kluwer – Brentford – 1990