Building 1 -
1932 other buildings added in 1934 / 35 & 38
Location
Western Avenue in
Perivale, West London
Description
Wallis,
Gilbert
and
Partners was an architectural team responsible
for many of the iconic Art Deco buildings in the
UK. Among them were factories for Hoover,
Wrigley's, Firestone and General Electric.
They were also responsible for the Victoria
Coach Station and the Daimler Hire Garage on
Herbrand Street in London.
The Hoover Factory once housed the company's
main manufacturing plant in the UK with around
600 employees. The factory was gradually
enlarged from one building in 1932 to seven
buildings in 1938. During WWII the factory
switched production from vacuum cleaners to
electrical components for aircraft and tanks.
Building Number 7 was home to the factory's
canteen. When I visited in June of 2014 it
was in the process of being refurbished for a
new role as a restaurant and banqueting hall for
the Nawaab Restaurant Group.
They say on their website that, "Nawaab
is proud to reveal that work is underway to
bring Manchester’s favourite restaurant to
London. Nawaab London has been given
official clearance by the councils and
authorities to bring authentic Indian and
Pakistani cuisine to the capital. The new
premises will be comparable in size to the
beloved Nawaab Manchester site with a large
restaurant and three bespoke banqueting
suites. ... The new home of London Nawaab is
the historic and much-loved old Hoover
building in Perivale, near Wembley. ....
... This 80 year-old Art Deco building is
Grade II listed and considered by many to be
one of the most iconic structures in London.
Art Deco London has even described the old
Hoover building as being ‘possibly the
finest Art Deco structure in Britain.’
Fittingly, Nawaab London will be based in
build No.7 of this structure, the former
site of the company’s main canteen. This
building is one of the few remnants of the
structure that was destroyed after Hoover
vacated the property in the early 1980s. The
beauty of building No.7 and its status as a
Grade II listed building saved it from being
demolished."
More images of Building
Number 7
After the war an eighth
building was added to the site but over the
years Hoover moved a lot of its
manufacturing to a new facility in
Scotland. Vacuum cleaner production
continued here in Perivale until the
1980s Hoover continued to use the
buildings for a while but in 1989 Tesco
purchased the site. Working with
English Heritage they transformed the
factory buildings into a supermarket.
Some of the factory buildings were
demolished but a great deal of restoration
work was done to those buildings that are
Grade II Listed.
A walk around the
factory in June of 2014
Across the street
from the former factory is a parade of
shops with a branch of Lloyds
Bank. The building reflects the
style of the factory.
