DISCOVER LONDON64 discoverbritainmag.comepitomised by style icons such as Edward,
Prince of Wales. Likewise, the sporting
blazer and the oarsman’s boater had existed
since Victorian times, yet they found their
way onto the high street at this time. Men’s
evening dress changed drastically too, with
the short tuxedo or dinner jacket replacing
the white tie and tailcoat, the latter only de
rigueur if one was conducting a dance band.
It was during this time that two
innovative 20th-century forces, jazz
and Art Deco, moved from niche to
mainstream. And across London, daily life
was being made less labour-intensive by
rapidly evolving technology. Motor cars,
moving pictures, electric fires and wireless
radio changed the way life was lived,
certainly amongst the middle and upper
classes. Some Britons now had telephones
in their houses and most homes had large
radios in a polished mahogany cabinet
that received news bulletins from theANTONY PAUL/ALAMYBBC and live feeds of the best dance bands
in London’s West End.
But where to find the spirit of the Roaring
Twenties in London today? With the city
expanding rather than rebuilding in the
1920s, it is often in suburban tube stations
or nearby apartment blocks where Art Deco
architecture is most apparent. Extensions to
the City & South London and Hampstead
lines (both now part of the Northern Line)
saw modernist tube stations appear in the
likes of Clapham and Tooting, all designed
by Charles Holden, the architect behind
55 Broadway, the 1929 grade I-listed
home of Transport for London at
St James’s Park station.
In the centre of London, much of the
1920s’ frivolity was played out in buildings
from an earlier age. The Savoy’s very
Victorian American Bar was only refitted
in the Art Deco style in 1927, and it wasn’t
until 1929 that Savoy Court – the hotel’sBelow left: Inside The
Savoy’s Beaufort Bar
Right: Oxo Tower
Far right: Ideal
House is an example
of the “Egyptian”
Art Deco styleBILL DAVIS/PJRTRAVEL/ALAMY/NAILL CLUTTONDISCOVER LONDON
64 discoverbritainmag.com
epitomised by style icons such as Edward,
Prince of Wales. Likewise, the sporting
blazer and the oarsman’s boater had existed
since Victorian times, yet they found their
way onto the high street at this time. Men’s
evening dress changed drastically too, with
the short tuxedo or dinner jacket replacing
the white tie and tailcoat, the latter only de
rigueur if one was conducting a dance band.
It was during this time that two
innovative 20th-century forces, jazz
and Art Deco, moved from niche to
mainstream. And across London, daily life
was being made less labour-intensive by
rapidly evolving technology. Motor cars,
moving pictures, electric fires and wireless
radio changed the way life was lived,
certainly amongst the middle and upper
classes. Some Britons now had telephones
in their houses and most homes had large
radios in a polished mahogany cabinet
that received news bulletins from the
BBC and live feeds of the best dance bands
in London’s West End.
But where to find the spirit of the Roaring
Twenties in London today? With the city
expanding rather than rebuilding in the
1920s, it is often in suburban tube stations
or nearby apartment blocks where Art Deco
architecture is most apparent. Extensions to
the City & South London and Hampstead
lines (both now part of the Northern Line)
saw modernist tube stations appear in the
likes of Clapham and Tooting, all designed
by Charles Holden, the architect behind
55 Broadway, the 1929 grade I-listed
home of Transport for London at
St James’s Park station.
In the centre of London, much of the
1920s’ frivolity was played out in buildings
from an earlier age. The Savoy’s very
Victorian American Bar was only refitted
in the Art Deco style in 1927, and it wasn’t
until 1929 that Savoy Court – the hotel’sBelow left: Inside The
Savoy’s Beaufort Bar
Right: Oxo Tower
Far right: Ideal
House is an example
of the “Egyptian”
Art Deco styleBILL DAVIS/PJRTRAVEL/ALAMY/NAILL CLUTTON