The Oxo Tower is a building with a prominent tower on the south bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

in London. The building has mixed use as Oxo Tower Wharf containing a set of design, arts and crafts shops on the ground and first floors with two galleries, Bargehouse and Gallery@oxo. The Oxo Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie is on the eighth floor, which is the roof-top level with fine and casual dining. In addition to this, situated on the eighth floor is a viewing gallery open to the public. The third to seventh floors contain 78 flats owned by Redwood Housing. Much of the second floor can be hired out for events and weddings.

Location

Oxo Tower Wharf is in the east of London's

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...

cultural area in the

London Borough of Southwark The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...

. A continuous riverside walkway passes in front of the building, and links it with other riverside attractions such as the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

, the National Theatre, the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

and the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...

. The building is flanked to the west by Bernie Spain Gardens and Gabriel's Wharf, and to the east by

Sea Containers House Sea Containers House is a prominent building on the south bank of the River Thames, west of Blackfriars Bridge, in London. Location Sea Containers House is located towards the eastern end of London's South Bank cultural area, and is within the ...

. When viewing the tower, there are only a few places in which it can be seen. These include the Observation Point, the adjacent riverside walkway, the green at the back of the tower, and the two piers stood in front of the tower.

History

The building was originally constructed as a

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

to supply electricity to the Royal Mail post office, built towards the end of the 19th century. It was subsequently acquired by the

Liebig Extract of Meat Company Liebig's Extract of Meat Company, established in the United Kingdom, was the producer of LEMCO brand Liebig's Extract of Meat and the originator of Oxo (food), Oxo meat extracts and Oxo beef stock cubes. It was named after Baron Justus von Lieb ...

in the 1920s, manufacturers of Oxo beef stock cubes, for conversion into a cold store. The building was largely rebuilt to an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

design by company architect Albert Moore between 1928 and 1929. Much of the original power station was demolished, but the river facing facade was retained and extended. The Liebig Extract of Meat Company wanted to include a tower featuring illuminated signs advertising the name of their product. When permission for the advertisements was refused, the tower was built with four sets of three vertically-aligned windows, each of which "coincidentally" happened to be in the shapes of a circle, a cross and a circle. This was significant because skyline advertising was banned at the time along Southbank. Despite these windows being the building's architectural focal point, there is no general public access to the tower which is restricted to maintenance tradesmen. Liebig and the building were eventually purchased by the

Vestey Group Vestey Holdings, formerly Vestey Group and previously also known as Vestey Brothers, is a privately-owned UK group of companies comprising an international business focused mainly on food products and services. The company has owned vast holdin ...

. For a long time the building was left derelict until the late 1970s and early 1980s where there were several proposals to demolish the building and develop it and the adjacent Coin Street site, but these were met with strong local opposition and two planning inquiries were held. Although permission for redevelopment was granted, the support of the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

(GLC) finally resulted in the tower and adjoining land being sold to the GLC in 1984 for £2.7m—who sold the entire site to the non-profit

Coin Street Community Builders Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB) is a development trust and social enterprise which seeks to make London's South Bank a better place in which to live, to work, to visit and to study. Since 1984 CSCB has transformed a largely derelict 13-acre ...

for just £750,000. In the 1990s the tower was refurbished to a design by

Lifschutz Davidson Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands is a practice of architects, urban designers and masterplanners established in 1986 and practising out of London. History Alex Lifschutz and Ian Davidson met working on the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Headquarters ...

to include housing, a restaurant, shops and exhibition space. The tower won the

Royal Fine Art Commission The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

Building of the Year Award for

urban regeneration Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

in 1997, the RIBA Award for Architecture also in 1997, the Brick Development Association Award 1997, Civic Trust Award 1998 and The Waterfront Center USA Honor Award 2000. It includes hireable space and floors devoted to occupation. Regardless of the tower's historical significance and multiple awards, it is yet to be classed as a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Coin Street Community Builders

(CSCB) is a social enterprise and development trust which has redeveloped London's South Bank. CSCB has reconstructed the surrounding 13 acres into co-operative homes, shops, galleries, restaurants, cafes and bars; a park and riverside walkway; sports facilities; by organising festivals and events; and by providing childcare, family support, learning, and enterprise support programmes. Income is generated from a variety of sources including the hire of retail and catering spaces, event spaces, meeting room spaces and conference venue spaces as well as the provision of consultancy services.

The Bargehouse

2016 7–9 October, final exhibition Celeste Prize 2016, 8th edition, curated by Ellen Blumenstein (KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin), jurors: Juliana Bardolim, Marc Bembekoff, Sandro Droschl, Chris Fitzpatrick, Martin Germann, Felix Hoffmann, Chiara Ianeselli, Marianna Liosi, Zane Onckule, Barbara Piwowarska, Alya Sebti, Moritz Wesseler. 23,000 € prizes awarded to winners, Laure Catugier (Video), Jay Harrison (Installation), Markus Hoffmann (Installation), Kal Karim (Photography), Krysia Kordecki (Installation), Flavia Pitis (Painting). 2022 21–24 July, Evoke Collective Photography Graduate Show, Presented by Arts University Bournemouth. Showcasing the next generation of young British artists, including the likes of James Critchlow, Sion Rees, Sam Cashmore and Ed Wrigglesworth, amongst many others.

Gallery@oxo

The gallery located at the bottom of the Oxo Tower Wharf is known for its photography, contemporary design, architecture and issue-based exhibitions.

Restaurant

The Oxo Tower is also famous for

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

' very first restaurant. The tower's popular Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie opened in September 1996.

References

External links

Architectural information at Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands websiteCoin Street Community BuildersOxo Tower WharfOxo Tower Restaurant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxo Tower Commercial buildings completed in 1900 Art Deco architecture in London Contemporary art galleries in London Residential buildings in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Southwark Redevelopment projects in London Observation towers in the United Kingdom Recipients of Civic Trust Awards Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Southwark