Fears for Art Deco delights as M&S’S Marble Arch flagship faces bulldozers for ‘utter tat’
MARKS & SPENCER’S flagship Marble Arch outlet in London is to be demolished, as heritage charities warn more department stores will be flattened in favour of “Identikit” new builds.
The chain’s store, based in the 1930s Orchard House building on Oxford Street, is to be torn down to make room for a shop “fit for the future” after Westminster council signed off plans for demolition.
Heritage campaigners fear department store buildings across the country intertwined with UK social history are at risk of being replaced to pave the way for “utter tat”.
Clare Price, working with the architectural campaign group the Twentieth Century Society, said: “This is an appalling waste, a destruction of our streetscape.
“We are removing department stores which are part of our heritage, and replacing them with Identikit shops.
“They don’t have the same charm and appeal from an aesthetic point of view, and London is more than just the Houses of Parliament.
“Keeping only the very most Instagrammed buildings and then surrounding them with utter tat isn’t going to work.”
Ms Price has also argued that by replacing the Neoclassical and Art Deco hybrid Orchard House with a new 10-storey building, complete with a gym, Marks & Spencer will be removing a piece of Britain’s heritage.
She has warned that the trend is nationwide, adding: “It’s happening across the country, and we’re losing part of our social history. Once it’s gone it’s gone.”
Buildings which campaigners are seeking to save include a former House of Fraser in Birmingham, a Co-op store in Hull, and Debenhams stores in Staines and Taunton.
Westminster council’s planning committee voted in favour of plans for demolition for the Marks & Spencer store on
Tuesday, but the Twentieth Century Society will be urging the Department for Housing and Communities to review the decision.
The new flagship store, with a cafe and office space and a simplified design compared to the existing building, is not due to be completed until 2027.
Sacha Berendji, store development director for Marks & Spencer, said: “M&S has a long history in Marble Arch, and so we are pleased to receive approval for redevelopment.”