The very unique gouged building in London

“We wanted to respect our neighbour,” says Jonny Plant, architect of this curious new concave office building. “The church had always been overlooked, tucked down the side street next to the railway viaduct, so we wanted to celebrate it and draw people’s attention to it.”

His firm, Lipton Plant (since merged with Corstorphine & Wright), had been commissioned to expand the four-storey redbrick building on the corner with an infill extension to the side, and an extra storey on the roof. The building’s ground floor had always filled the entire footprint of the site, but the upper floors had been recessed back from the street, to politely align with the facade of the Roman Catholic church – a grade-II listed romanesque structure, built in 1892 by prolific church architect Frederick Walters.

April 9, 2025 | 5:00 am