184 Shepherds Bush Road

Today both Annie and myself were volunteer marshals at Open House London. For anyone not aware, this is an annual event where many properties (commercial, public and private) usually very much off limits to the general public, are opened for one or two days of the weekend. There are properties all over the city, some very famous (the most popular include 10 Downing Street and have ballots to give out tickets) and others less so but all have something unique and of interest. Whether that's from an architectural perspective or simply because you can get somewhere you usually aren't allowed.

Whilst Annie was in the Lloyd's Register Group building in the city, I was out at 184 Shepherds Bush Room. This is a was a three storey Grade 2 listed building, originally built for the Ford Motor Company during World War 1 for car assembly and sales, it subsequently passed to Citroen for a similar purpose before being requisitioned by the RAF. Later it was used by Osram lights and then as a self-storage depot. Around 10 years ago the current owner worked with a new customer to completely renovate the building adding 3 additional floors in an Italian style pagoda on the roof. Oddly the building was supposed to have been built taller originally but concrete shortages in WW1 had limited the construction. Many features of the buildings history have been retained in the redevelopment. The blip shops the staff restaurant which is the old car showroom. The windows whilst new, are to the exact design of the originals and made by the same company but now with double glazing. The wood panelling is original. We had plenty of visitors and I assisted the guide (from the architects practice that designed the refit) with hourly tours through the afternoon. It was fun to tell the story of the building and although I was very much learning as I went, by the third tour I was pretty much there with the facts and figures despite not setting foot in the building before today!

Annie had a similar experience but also the treat of meeting fellow blipper Blast, really lovely to see her and say hello.

We treated ourselves to dinner at Westfield before setting off home this evening in the rain. A long but fun day.