Lost London – The Mappin & Webb building…
May 3, 2019
A much-fought for building in the City of London, the neo-gothic Mappin & Webb building was built in the 19th century as a branch of the royal jewellers, Mappin & Webb.
Located on the corner of Poultry and Victoria Street opposite Mansion House – the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London, the triangular-shaped building was designed by John Belcher and completed in 1870.
The building, which featured a cone-roofed tower on the main corner of the site, was granted Grade II status
Following a long – and complicated – battle over the future of the site (which involved no less than Prince Charles), the Mappin & Webb building was demolished in 1994.
The site is now 1 Poultry, which was completed in 1997 and subsequently became the youngest building to be listed as Grade II*. It was designed by James Stirling and is considered an exemplar of post-modernist architecture.
PICTURE: The Mappin & Webb building in 1993 (Derek Voller (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0))
May 3, 2019 at 9:51 pm
I know Mappin and Webb very well from impressive silver and silver plated art objects, but not for architecture. Whoever had the Mappin & Webb building demolished in 1994 should be locked in a small gaol cell with a hungry crocodile.