The Hoover Factory is not one building, but a complex of them in London's Western suburbs. With Hoover, the firm of Wallis, Gilbert & Partner gave the city its greatest essay in the Art Deco style. A blend of elements such as ancient Egyptian art and architecture and Mendelsohn's early 20th century "Einstein Tower" combined with innovations in factory design, such as having a separate canteen for the workers, to make this a renowned Art Deco masterpiece.

Main Administrative Building

Today there are no more vacuum cleaners manufactured here, but you can certainly do your grocery shopping, as the old factory part is now a Tesco supermarket. The old adminstrative buildings overlooking the motorway are currently occupied by the Galliher company.

Polychrome Decoration

Located on a spacious site in the West London suburb of Perivale, work began on Hoover in 1931. With the completion of the Worker's canteen in 1939, it had become an entire complex, with several buildings and a sizeable parking lot. As striking as the architecture is, it is the presence of so much bright colour that makes it one of the rare examples of the polychrome look that is generally associated with American Art Deco.

Worker's Canteen

Eccentric windows

These eccentric curving windows were inspired by similar ones in Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower in Potsdam.