Palladium House
1-4, Argyll Street
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1357168
- Date first listed:
- 16-Jan-1981
- List Entry Name:
- Palladium House
- Statutory Address:
- 1-4, Argyll Street
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-10-01
- Reference:
- IOE01/15682/28
- Rights:
- © Mr Anthony Rau. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1357168
- Date first listed:
- 16-Jan-1981
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 25-Jun-2002
- List Entry Name:
- Palladium House
- Statutory Address 1:
- 1-4, Argyll Street
- Statutory Address 2:
- Palladium House, Great Marlborough Street W1
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- 1-4, Argyll Street
- Statutory Address:
- Palladium House, Great Marlborough Street W1
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- City of Westminster (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 29139 81129
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 16 October 2023 to remove superfluous source details from text and to reformat the text to current standards
1900/57/42
SOHO
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET W1
Palladium House
ARGYLL STREET
1-4
(Formerly listed as: SOHO, ARGYLL STREET W1, 1-6)
(Formerly listed as: SOHO,GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET, IDEAL HOUSE)
16-JAN-81
II
1-4 Argyll Street. Formerly known as Ideal House.
Corner office block. 1928-29 by Raymond Hood in collaboration with Gordon Jeeves, extended northwards in 1935. Polished black granite facing, metal casement windows, enamel trimmings; flat roof not visible. Seven storeys with a recessed attic storey. Seven windows wide on upper floors to Great Marlborough Street, eleven windows to Argyll Street where they are arranged in spaced groups of four and seven bays, reflecting two phases of construction. Ground floor with large flat arched display windows and doorways pierced without moulding but emphasised by inlaid frame of bronze champlevé enamelled plates in formalised lotus and jazz-moderne geometric patterns in a range of yellows and oranges, greens and gold. Plain openings with metal casements to upper floors. The champlevé motifs appear again as a frieze pierced by the sixth floor windows and reappear on the stepped and coved main cornice and similarly coved attic cornice, each of Egyptian inspiration.
INTERIOR: not inspected.
HISTORY: this building was constructed for the National Radiator Company, and was a reduced version of the American Radiator Building on Bryant Park, Manhattan, the New York premises of the National Radiator Corporation by Raymond Hood, the parent company of the English firm. The black and gold colours reflect the livery of the company. It comprised a ground floor show room with lettable offices above. Originally the building comprised the southernmost four bays, but was extended by a further seven bays to the north in 1935. A very unusual instance of a London-scaled American tower block design, embellished with the sort of Art Deco or 'Moderne' details in fashion following the Paris Exhibition of 1925. This is the only European building of Raymond Hood, described by A. Saint as the 'wittiest and most thoughtful of the inter-war New York skyscraper architects'. The enamel surround to the Argyll Street entrance was removed and is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Listing NGR: TQ2913981129
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 208545
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Harwood, , Saint, , Exploring England's Heritage London, (1991), 216
Survey of London in The Parish of Westminster Part 2 North of Piccadilly: Volumes 31 and 32 , Vol. 31, (1963)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 17:23:51.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.