Princes House
- Client: The Crown Estate
- Contacts: Steve Harvey, Simon Gillett
This complex Grade II listed building owned by the Crown Estate sits within the St James conservation area its imposing main façade fronts directly onto Piccadilly. Constructed between 1881-83 for occupation by the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, the building was significantly altered in the 1930s with the introduction of a retail arcade linking Piccadilly with Jermyn Street.
The original Piccadilly façade was rebuilt below second floor level and further changes were carried out during the second half of the 20th Century, culminating in the complete rebuilding of the arcade in the 1980s. The building houses a variety of uses, predominantly retail at ground floor, with office use within the Jermyn Street wing and BAFTA occupying the upper floors of the main Piccadilly Street block.
The client brief was multifaceted and centred on a desire to enhance the retail offer, introduce a new restaurant at basement level, refurbish the Jermyn Street offices and facilitate the refurbishment and upgrading of the BAFTA headquarters. It was also essential that the building remained in occupation throughout the construction works.
One of the key shortcomings of the existing building was that the previous alterations to the Piccadilly façade had restricted the size of the main entrances to Princes Arcade and the BAFTA demise.
The first task was for both issues to be addressed through a complex planning approval which used historic data and the natural symmetry of the building to put forward a persuasive case to introduce two new dramatic double height entrances. The project was then carried out in 3 phases:
Phase 1: Refurbishment of the basement and part of the ground floor plus enabling works to facilitate the provision of a new restaurant with 250 covers.
Phase 2: Refurbishment of Princes Arcade. The Arcade works included refurbished shopfronts, new stone flooring with inlaid brass detailing and new feature lighting throughout. Preparation works were also carried out to enable BAFTA to carry out their own refurbishment works at a later date.
Phase 3: Refurbishment of Jermyn Street office accommodation. The building has been significantly upgraded with a new entrance, reception and art piece with refurbished communal areas and facilities.
The façade improvements respect the original historic design and are carefully considered to provide an increased street presence to the arcade entrances.
The Piccadilly entrance to Princes Arcade features a canopy by artist Andrew Bick, a transient and light saturated grid of colour. The animated piece changes with the light throughout the day, combining contemporary art sympathetic with the historic building.
On Jermyn Street, the secondary entrance to Princes Arcade is given greater emphasis, and the entrance to the office building is enhanced and enlarged.
