The ceramic tile panels
Around the front of the building at street level are decorative ceramic tile panels showing famous racing cars of the era that used Michelin tyres — including early Grand Prix racers. These panels celebrate Michelin's involvement in motorsport and serve as visual proof of the company's performance credentials.
Inside the original tyre-fitting bay (now part of the ground-floor restaurant), more ceramic tiles depict motoring scenes, floral Art Nouveau motifs, and — of course — Bibendum.
The mosaic floor
The reception area features a large mosaic on the floor showing Bibendum holding aloft a glass filled with nails, bolts, and other road hazards, proclaiming "Nunc Est Bibendum" — Latin for "Now is the time to drink."
This is a reference to a 1898 Michelin poster based on a line from Horace's Odes. The image shows Bibendum toasting his competitors with a glass of sharp objects, implying that Michelin tyres can "drink up" (absorb) road hazards that would destroy inferior tyres. The phrase became synonymous with Bibendum and Michelin's brand identity.
Paris street maps
Some first-floor windows feature etchings of the streets of Paris — representing Michelin's close association with road maps and tourism, and reinforcing the French origins of the company.
Bibendum: the Michelin Man
Bibendum — the puffy white mascot made entirely of stacked tyres — is one of the world's oldest and most recognisable corporate mascots. He was created in 1898 by the French poster artist Marius Rossillon (known as O'Galop), based on an idea by Édouard Michelin.
The story goes that Édouard saw a stack of tyres at a trade fair and remarked to his brother André: "If it had arms, it would look like a man." O'Galop created the character, originally depicted as a rotund figure made of white tyres (early tyres were light-coloured, not black), often shown smoking a cigar or raising a glass in a toast.
The name "Bibendum" comes from the Latin phrase "Nunc est bibendum" (Now is the time to drink) from Horace's Odes — a celebration of victory. The phrase was used in the 1898 poster showing Bibendum toasting his tyre competitors with a glass of nails and broken glass.
Bibendum rapidly became a cultural icon — appearing in posters, advertisements, and eventually in the architecture of Michelin House itself. He is woven throughout the building: in stained glass, in mosaics, in ceramic tiles, even in the glass cupolas shaped like tyre stacks. The building is as much a shrine to Bibendum as it is a corporate headquarters.
Later history: decline and renaissance
In 1927, Michelin expanded again, building their own tyre factory at Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands. By 1930, they had moved their head office to Stoke, though they continued to use the lower levels of Michelin House for the tyre-fitting bay and some office functions. The upper floors were leased to various tenants — including a furniture warehouse and, during World War II, the Air Ministry.
The rear half of the building was further extended during this period. But by the 1980s, Michelin House had fallen into neglect. The company decided to sell the property in 1985, fully relocating operations to Stoke.
The Conran–Hamlyn restoration (1985–87)
Michelin House was saved by two admirers of modern architecture: Sir Terence Conran (the designer and restaurateur) and Paul Hamlyn (the publisher). Both had made independent bids to buy the building. When they discovered they were competing, they decided to join forces instead, purchasing the property for £8 million in August 1985.
Conran and Hamlyn set up Michelin House Developments to restore and redevelop the building. They hired Conran Roche and YRM Architects to lead the project. In November 1985, planning permission was granted to increase the floor area from 90,000 to 118,000 square feet (to 11,000 m²).
The restoration was painstaking. Many original features were repaired; others had to be recreated. The three stained-glass windows had vanished after being stored during WWII, so replicas were commissioned using original drawings and photographs. The glass cupolas at the front of the building had disappeared, so new ones were fabricated. The mosaic floor in the reception area was restored.
The redeveloped building opened in August 1987 with:
- Bibendum Restaurant & Oyster Bar (ground and first floors) — named after the Michelin Man, with chef Simon Hopkinson (who left in 1994 to become a food writer and TV presenter)
- Conran Shop (retail)
- Octopus Publishing offices (Paul Hamlyn's company; upper floors)
The restaurant quickly established itself as one of London's most fashionable dining destinations. In 2000, Monitor Group (an international business consulting firm) moved into the office space after Octopus Publishing relocated.
Today, the restaurant operates as Claude Bosi at Bibendum, holding two Michelin stars. The Conran Shop continues to occupy part of the ground floor. The building remains one of London's most beloved architectural landmarks.
On 20 January 2011, the building's 100th anniversary was celebrated by its then-occupants and by Michelin. As part of the centennial, Michelin renewed efforts to find the original stained-glass windows, but they have never been recovered.
Model-maker's lens
Michelin House is pure architectural joy — a building that refuses to be serious, that celebrates ornament and storytelling at a time when most commercial buildings were austere and restrained.
- Focus — the Fulham Road façade, especially the central bay with its round-arched window, shaped gable, and tyre-model kneelers. This is the building's iconic image — the composition that announces itself most powerfully from the street.
- Detail — the glazed terracotta facing is the defining material, giving the building its shimmering, jewel-like quality. At model scale, we simplify the surface texture but preserve the rhythm of the decorative panels, the metalwork, the turrets, and the glass cupolas.
- How it reads at small scale — extremely well. The building's character comes from its silhouette, its symmetry, its decorative rhythm, and its playful elements (the turrets, the cupolas, the shaped gable). All of these hold at small scale. The ornament becomes pattern; the pattern becomes texture; the texture reinforces the architectural idea: this building is different, this building is celebrating something.
- How to display — best viewed straight-on from the street perspective. The façade is designed to be read frontally as a symmetrical composition. The building rewards close inspection — there are details everywhere — but also reads clearly from a distance.
Modelling Michelin House is an exercise in understanding architecture as communication. The building is a three-dimensional advertisement, a brand made solid, a celebration of early 20th-century optimism about technology, speed, and progress. The model captures that optimism at the moment it was built — 1911, when the automobile was new, when Art Nouveau was at its height, when architecture could still be unashamedly joyful.
View the Michelin House architectural model
Frequently asked questions about Michelin House
Who designed Michelin House?
François Espinasse (1880–1925), a French engineer employed by Michelin, working likely under the guidance of André and Édouard Michelin. Espinasse was not a trained architect in the conventional sense, which makes the sophistication of the building's Art Nouveau decorative programme — the tiled panels, the stained glass, the ceramic Bibendum figures — all the more remarkable. Michelin House was his only significant building.
When was Michelin House built?
Designed 1909–10, constructed August 1910–January 1911, and opened on 20 January 1911. The speed of construction — five months from groundbreaking to opening — reflects the use of a reinforced concrete frame, then still a relatively novel building technology in Britain.
What is Bibendum?
Bibendum is the Michelin Man — the company's mascot, created in 1898 by illustrator O'Galop (Marius Rossillon) from a sketch by Édouard Michelin. He is depicted as a figure made entirely of stacked tyres. The name comes from the Latin phrase "Nunc est bibendum" (Now is the time to drink), adapted from Horace's Odes, and appeared in the original advertising image showing Bibendum raising a glass of road debris — the implication being that Michelin tyres consume obstacles that would puncture inferior brands. His image appears throughout Michelin House in tile, ceramic, and stained glass.
What happened to the original stained-glass windows at Michelin House?
They were removed during World War II for safekeeping, shipped to Michelin's factory in Stoke-on-Trent, and subsequently lost. Replicas were commissioned in 1985–87, during the building's restoration by architects YRM Anthony Hunt Associates, based on original drawings and photographs. The replica windows are faithful to the originals in composition and character, though the loss of the originals remains a significant gap in the building's material history.
What architectural style is Michelin House?
Art Nouveau — a French-influenced style rare in British commercial architecture of the period, which tended towards Baroque, classical, or vernacular revival forms. The building's tiled panels depicting early racing cars, its ceramic Bibendum figures at the roofline, and its stained-glass windows make it an unusually exuberant presence on the Fulham Road.
Why is Michelin House important?
Michelin House is one of the earliest and most complete examples of architecture deployed as corporate branding — every element of the building, from its tiled racing scenes to its Bibendum figures, communicates the Michelin identity. It is also one of London's finest Art Nouveau buildings and a rare surviving example of the style in a British commercial context. The building is Grade II* listed. Since 1987 it has housed the Conran Shop on the ground floor and the Bibendum restaurant above — uses that have kept it animated as a public building.
Who restored Michelin House?
Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn purchased it in 1985 and oversaw its restoration (1985–87) by Conran Roche and YRM Architects.
Is Michelin House listed?
Yes. The front section facing Fulham Road was listed Grade II by Historic England in 1969 (List Entry Number 1080656).
What is in Michelin House today?
Claude Bosi at Bibendum restaurant (two Michelin stars), Conran Shop (retail), and office space.
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Sources and further reading
- Historic England — Listing Entry 1080656 ("Michelin House the Main Part Facing the Fulham Road") — https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1080656
- Wikipedia — "Michelin House" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_House
- Bibendum Restaurant official website — history section — https://www.bibendum.co.uk/
- Michelin Guide — "Six things you might not know about Michelin House" (20 Oct 2025)
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Local Studies — "Monsieur Bibendum's house: the Michelin Building" (Library Time Machine blog, 14 April 2016)
- Atlas Obscura — "Michelin House in London"
- Gavin Stamp — Britain's Lost Art Nouveau (Aurum Press, 2007) — includes discussion of Michelin House as rare British example of the style
- Alastair Service — Edwardian Architecture: A Handbook to Building Design in Britain 1890–1914 (Thames & Hudson, 1977)
