London has one of the finest collections of Art Deco architecture in the world, a style born in Paris at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes of 1925 and brought to London with a particular British elegance (the Jazz Age splendour of the Daily Express Building, the streamlined modernism of the London Underground, the ocean-liner chic of Eltham Palace) that transformed the fabric of the city in the decades between the wars. Art Deco was the style of the age of speed, the glamour of the transatlantic liners, the excitement of aviation, the modernity of electricity, and the sleek lines of the automobile were all reflected in the architecture: the chrome, the black glass, the Egyptian motifs (inspired by the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922), the sunbursts, and the geometric patterns that defined the look of the 1920s and 1930s. Here are the most stunning Art Deco buildings in London.

London’s Most Stunning Art Deco Buildings

• 1. Eltham Palace (Greenwich): The most extraordinary Art Deco interior in Britain, a medieval royal palace (Henry VIII grew up here) that was transformed in the 1930s by the wealthy textile magnate Stephen Courtauld and his wife Virginia into a masterpiece of Art Deco design, with a circular entrance hall (the most beautiful room in the house, a domed space of black bean wood, gold leaf, and a glass dome pierced with a gold-plated star), a gold-and-onyx bathroom (with a statue of the goddess Psyche in a gold mosaic niche), and a wood-panelled dining room where the table was dressed in the finest Art Deco silver. The contrast between the medieval great hall (built in the 1470s for Edward IV) and the 1930s extension is surreal and wonderful. Entry: ~£16 (English heritage). Allow 2-3 hours. Nearest station: Mottingham (15 min from London Bridge)
• 2. The Daily Express Building (Fleet Street): The most famous Art Deco building in London, a black glass and chrome masterpiece of 1932, designed by Ellis and Clarke, with a spectacular lobby of silver and black that was designed to evoke the speed and glamour of the modern newspaper industry (the Express was the most exciting paper of its day). The lobby is one of the most beautiful interiors in London, the plaster relief panels by Eric Aumonier depicting the Empire, the chrome staircases, the streamlined desks. The building is now occupied by Goldman Sachs, the lobby is not open to the public, but the exterior alone (the curved glass facade, the black vitrolite panels, the dramatic lighting) is worth the pilgrimage. Nearest station: City Thameslink or Blackfriars
• 3. The Hoover Building (Perivale, west London): The most beautiful factory ever built in Britain, a dazzling white, green, and red Art Deco palace of 1933 on the Western Avenue (the A40), designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners for the Hoover vacuum-cleaner company. The exterior, the Egyptian columns, the lotus-flower motifs, the sunbeam design over the central entrance, is one of the most spectacular works of industrial architecture in Europe. The building has been converted into a Tesco supermarket, the conversion is sensitive and the exterior and the entrance hall are preserved. A surreal experience: buying milk in one of the most beautiful Art Deco buildings in the world. Nearest station: Perivale (Central Line)
• 4. Senate House (Bloomsbury): The most dramatic Art Deco building in London, the headquarters of the University of London, designed by Charles Holden (the architect of the London Underground’s most beautiful stations) and completed in 1937, a vast Portland-stone ziggurat of a building that was the tallest secular building in London at the time. The interior, the marble halls, the bronze lifts, the stepped library tower, is as dramatic as the exterior. Senate House was the model for the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (Orwell’s wife Eileen worked there). The library is not open to the public, but the foyer and the exterior, looming over Russell Square, are magnificent. Nearest station: Russell Square or Goodge Street
• 5. The London Underground stations (across London): Charles Holden’s tube stations from the 1920s and 1930s are the most democratic Art Deco architecture in London, Arnos Grove (the circular booking hall with the concrete dome, the brickwork, and the futuristic spirit that evokes a flying saucer), Sudbury Town (the brick-and-glass box with the soaring waiting room, the most elegant station on the Piccadilly Line), and Southgate (the circular ticket hall with the Tesla-coil lighting, the most beautiful Art Deco station interior in London) are masterpieces of public architecture, designed to bring beauty and modernity to the suburbs of the expanding Underground network. Ride the Piccadilly Line and see them all in a single afternoon

Exploring London Art Deco Today

The best way to explore London’s Art Deco architecture is on foot or by tube, with a willingness to look up. The Ideal House on Great Marlborough Street, the Carreras Cigarette Factory in Camden, and the Dorchester Hotel each tell a different chapter of the story. For dedicated enthusiasts, the Twentieth Century Society offers guided walking tours of these interwar masterpieces.