Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat

18-26, TORRINGTON PLACE

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1379023
Date first listed:
14-May-1974
List Entry Name:
Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat
Statutory Address:
18-26, TORRINGTON PLACE
User submitted image
Contributed by Dominic Martin This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Over 400,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places. 

There is a problem

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:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.
Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2005-11-04
Reference:
IOE01/14959/05
Rights:
© Miss Patricia Philpott. 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 more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1379023
Date first listed:
14-May-1974
Date of most recent amendment:
11-Jan-1999
List Entry Name:
Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat
Statutory Address 1:
18-26, TORRINGTON PLACE
Statutory Address 2:
HEAL AND SON LIMITED INCLUDING HABITAT, 191-199, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
18-26, TORRINGTON PLACE
Statutory Address:
HEAL AND SON LIMITED INCLUDING HABITAT, 191-199, TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Greater London Authority
District:
Camden (London Borough)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
TQ 29531 81906

Details

TQ2981NE
798-1/99/1640

CAMDEN
TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD (East side)
Nos.191-199 (Consecutive) Heal and Son Ltd including Habitat

(Formerly Listed as: TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD Nos.193-199 (Consecutive)
Heal & Son Ltd)

14/05/74

GV
II*
Includes: Nos.18-26 TORRINGTON PLACE.

Department store and warehouse. Original central section of frontage five-window bays 1914-17 by Cecil C Brewer and A Dunbar Smith; southern extension of five bays with identical style of elevation 1936-8 by Edward Maufe; northern extension of seven bays in a complementary idiom of 1961-2 by Fitzroy Robinson and Partners. Portland stone facing on a steel frame throughout. Pantiled mansard roof with dormers.

EXTERIOR: Four storeys, attic and basement. Central and southern section in stripped Classical style have free-standing octagonal columns with bronze bases and caps to ground floor carrying plain entablature. Plate glass display windows are set back behind an arcade. On upper storeys, piers rise above columns to abbreviated capitals and deep entablature having enriched cornice and incised Roman lettering with the dates MDCCCX, MCMXVI and MCMXXXVII and the name "Heal and Son" (twice). The voids between the piers in alternating rhythm of single and triple lights divided by stone pilasters and filled with close-paned steel windows for two storeys, and continuous steel windows recessed on the third storey. The spandrels between first and second floors carry cast metal panels in low relief with colour designed by Joseph Armitage and depicting various wares and implements, eg. textiles, sheep shears, a bed, teazle, pottery wheel and vase.

The northern extension has a similar rhythm of bays and identical storey heights with the entablatures ranging through. Entrance in right hand bay with projecting hood bearing the royal coat of arms. Square piers to the ground floor, the set back display windows on the front and return to Torrington Place having curving non-reflective glass. Attic recessed with flat roof and projecting frame for window-cleaning cradle. The windows between piers of larger steel sections, the spandrels between first and second floors here filled with ceramic blue and cream relief panels designed by John Farleigh and made by Kenneth Clark and depicting wares interspersed with large letters "H" for Heals.

INTERIOR: notable chiefly for the circular wooden staircase within a well at the rear of the store, built as part of the Smith and Brewer work in 1914-17. Both Heals and Habitat are entered through the 1960s building at ground-floor level and their plans are confusing on the other floors; they have no division corresponding to the periods of the building but over-and-undersail each over.


Listing NGR: TQ2953181906

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
478388
Legacy System:
LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Heal and Son Limited Including Habitat

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 08-Jun-2026 at 11:58:43.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

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.

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos