The Oxo Tower has been a riverside landmark since the 1930s. During its industrial heyday it was owned by the makers of the OXO brand and has had numerous and varied uses since. By the 1970s it had fallen into disrepair and was largely derelict.
In the 1990s Oxo Tower Wharf entered a new lease of life when Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB) began a major refurbishment project to transform the building into an award-winning mixed use development of co-operative homes, retail design studios, specialist shops, galleries, restaurants, cafes and bars.
The £20 million refurbishment was designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and funded by a mixture of bank loans and CSCB equity, Housing Corporation grant and English Partnerships. Oxo Tower Wharf received The Royal Find Art Commission/BSkyB Building of the Year for Urban Regeneration in 1997.
Since opening to the public in 1996 Oxo Tower Wharf has attracted a wide range of visitors. The ground, first and second floors are home to over 30 retail design studios as well as specialist shops, tamesa bar & brasserie and bincho yakitori japanese restaurant, both with breathtaking river views, and the.gallery@oxo with its changing programme of exhibitions.
A unique feature of the Wharf is its concentration of retail studios for contemporary designer-makers. Here the public has the opportunity to watch designers at work and to commission or purchase a wide variety of original products across many disciplines including fashion, fine art, furniture, textiles, jewellery, ceramics and glass. Some of the country’s leading designers have studios at Oxo Tower Wharf including ceramicist Bodo Sperlein, glass artist Kate Maestri and product designers Black+Blum.
Phase II of Oxo Tower Wharf – known as Bargehouse – was home to the innovative The Museum Of from 1998-2001. Today it is used as a venue for exhibitions and public and private events. A suitable permanent commercial tenant is sought with whom CSCB would develop the building.
On its rooftop is the OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie (let to Harvey Nichols) and a free public viewing gallery (open daily, free admission). The residential area below consists of 78 flats on five floors for Redwood Housing Co-operative. The co-operative has its own entrance, lifts and basement parking.
A brief history
Around 1900 a power station was built on this site to supply electricity to the Post Office. In the late 1920s it was purchased by the Liebig Extract of Meat Company which demolished much of the building but extended its riverside frontage (look carefully next time you visit and you will see where it bends). The company made the famous OXO beef cube and its architect, Albert Moore, incorporated the design as windows on a tower to get around a ban on sky advertising! At that time the building was named Stamford Wharf and was London's second highest commercial building. Meat, delivered by barge, was passed through loading bays (which you can still see on the riverside) into cold stores, then processed and packed.
By the early 1970s the building was derelict, apart from the production of 'long eggs' for insertion into meat pies. By the time Coin Street Community Builders bought the Wharf, the only activity related to two barges used as a floating helicopter port. The first act of the new owners was to close the heliport and bring peace back to the riverside!
An initial contract carved out a two-storey arcade as part of the construction of the riverwalk. In 1988 a second contract demolished the middle of the building and part of the Bargehouse. In 1991 a third contract repaired the basic structure of the building. Only after this was any bank willing to lend money for the main refurbishment contract.