January 2021 – The Knowledge Emporium

219 Oxford Street was designed by Ronald Ward & Partners in 1950 and constructed between 1951 and 1952, as commemorated by the Festival of Britain plaques. It is one of London’s earliest postwar commercial buildings and is a mixture of prewar and postwar architectural styles. As built, the five-storey building comprised a ground-floor shop, with a showroom, and three floors of offices. Landlord Jack Salmon used the second-floor office himself.

In 2001, 219 Oxford Street became a Grade II listed building. Consequently, when the adjoining buildings were demolished in 2004 to make way for a block of flats and a Zara store, 219 was incorporated into the development and now forms a part of the latter.