After World War II, Liebig/Oxo gradually reduced their use of the building. By the 1970s, the Oxo Tower had become derelict — used briefly for a company making "long eggs" for meat pies, and later for a floating heliport moored to the riverside. Most of the building stood empty.
Architecture as branding
The Oxo Tower belongs to a small and distinctive group of buildings where architecture and corporate identity are inseparable — where the building is the advertisement. Several London contemporaries make instructive comparisons.
Michelin House on the Fulham Road (1911) pursued the same idea nearly two decades earlier: Bibendum figures in ceramic, stained-glass windows depicting the Michelin Man, glass cupolas shaped as tyre stacks. Where the Oxo Tower embedded its brand through geometry and planning law, Michelin House did so through exuberant surface decoration. The Carreras Black Cat Factory in Camden (1928) takes the idea further still — an Egyptian Revival building whose every element, from the black cat figures flanking the entrance to the faience-tiled façade, exists to advertise the Craven A cigarette brand that was made inside it.
On the Thames itself, Battersea Power Station and the Bankside Power Station — now Tate Modern — represent the opposite end of the branding spectrum: buildings whose identity comes entirely from monumental form rather than applied symbolism. Their presence on the river is achieved through scale and repetition alone rather than wit and lateral thinking.
The fight to save the Oxo Tower (1970s–1980s)
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Oxo Tower faced demolition. Multiple developers proposed tearing down the building and redeveloping the site along with the adjacent Coin Street area. These proposals met with fierce local opposition from residents and community groups who wanted to preserve the building and prevent wholesale commercial redevelopment of the South Bank.
Two planning inquiries were held. Although permission for redevelopment was eventually granted, the campaign to save the building gained crucial support from the Greater London Council (GLC) under Labour leadership.
In 1983, Southwark Council designated the Oxo Tower part of a conservation area in a bid to prevent its demolition.
In 1984, the GLC purchased the tower and the adjoining land for £2.7 million. The GLC then sold the entire 13-acre site to the community organisation Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB) for just £750,000 — a transformative act that placed control of the site in the hands of a non-profit social enterprise committed to regeneration for community benefit rather than private profit.
The Coin Street Community Builders restoration (1990s)
Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB) is a social enterprise and development trust founded to regenerate the South Bank for the benefit of the local community. After acquiring the Oxo Tower site in 1984, CSCB's first act was to close the floating heliport, bringing peace back to the riverside.
In the 1990s, CSCB embarked on a major £20 million refurbishment of the Oxo Tower, designed by architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands. The project was funded through a mixture of:
- Bank loans
- CSCB equity
- Housing Corporation grant
- English Partnerships City Grant (urban regeneration funding)
The restoration transformed the building into a mixed-use development:
- Ground and first floors: Retail studios for designer-makers (over 30 shops and workshops where the public can watch designers at work and commission or purchase original products across disciplines including fine art, textiles, jewellery, ceramics, and contemporary interior design)
- Ground floor: gallery@oxo (hosting changing exhibitions of photography, contemporary design, architecture, and issue-based art)
- Second floor: Hirable event space for exhibitions, weddings, fashion shows, and private functions
- Third to seventh floors: 78 flats (social housing owned by Redwood Housing)
- Eighth floor: Restaurant, bar, and brasserie with panoramic river views; public viewing gallery
The building reopened to the public in 1996. The Oxo Tower Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie — Harvey Nichols' first restaurant — opened in September 1996 and quickly became one of London's most popular dining destinations.
The restoration was a critical and commercial success, winning multiple awards:
- Royal Fine Art Commission/BSkyB Building of the Year Award for Urban Regeneration (1997)
- RIBA Award for Architecture (1997)
- Brick Development Association Award (1997)
- Civic Trust Award (1998)
- The Waterfront Center USA Honor Award (2000)
Despite this recognition, the Oxo Tower has never been granted listed building status — a curious omission given its historical significance, architectural quality, and cultural prominence.
The tower itself: access and views
The tower is not accessible to the general public. Access is granted only to maintenance staff (electricians, etc.) via a hidden, locked door near the restaurant kitchens. Despite the OXO windows being the building's architectural focal point, visitors cannot enter the tower structure itself.
However, the eighth-floor public viewing gallery offers panoramic views across London, making it possible to experience the building's commanding riverside position even without accessing the tower.
Model-maker's lens
The Oxo Tower is a study in architectural restraint — Art Deco discipline applied to industrial form, with a single brilliant gesture (the OXO windows) providing identity and delight.
- Focus — the tower itself, seen from the river: the nine-storey vertical mass, the stepped massing at the top, the four sets of OXO windows reading clearly from all sides. This is architecture as landmark, architecture as sign.
- Detail — the OXO windows are the defining feature. At model scale, we simplify them into clear geometric shapes — circle, cross, circle — that spell the name without ambiguity. The Art Deco detailing (stepped massing, geometric ornament, clean lines) reinforces the tower's period character.
- How it reads at small scale — exceptionally well, because the architecture is fundamentally simple: a vertical mass with a clear graphic identity. The OXO windows are bold enough to read at any scale. The four-sided composition ensures the building is equally legible from every angle — essential for a riverside landmark designed to be seen from multiple viewpoints.
- How to display — the freestanding model allows the building to be appreciated in the round, as it exists in reality. The tower can be rotated to show all four faces spelling OXO. The wall-mounted PopArc version treats the façade as a two-dimensional graphic composition — emphasising the building's role as both architecture and advertising. Either interpretation works; each reveals a different aspect of the building's character.
Modelling the Oxo Tower is an exercise in understanding architecture as communication. The building is a message made solid — a brand name embedded permanently into the London skyline through clever design and lateral thinking. The model captures that gesture at the moment it was built: 1929, when Art Deco was modern, when skyline advertising was banned, when architects could still outsmart the regulations with wit and geometry.
Frequently asked questions about the Oxo Tower
Who designed the Oxo Tower?
Albert Moore, company architect for the Liebig Extract of Meat Company (Oxo), who designed the 1928–29 rebuild of an earlier riverside power station. Moore is not otherwise well-documented as an architect, making the Oxo Tower his most significant surviving work.
When was the Oxo Tower built?
The current tower dates from 1928–29, when Albert Moore rebuilt and extended an earlier power station constructed around 1900 for the Royal Mail. The building's layered history — power station, cold store, near-demolition, community restoration — is as significant as its architecture.
Why does the tower spell OXO?
The Liebig Extract of Meat Company, manufacturers of Oxo beef stock cubes, wanted illuminated advertising signs on the tower. When permission was refused under London's ban on riverside advertising, architect Albert Moore designed windows shaped as circle-cross-circle — spelling OXO on all four faces of the tower. Because the lettering was formed by the windows themselves rather than applied signage, it was classified as architecture rather than advertising, circumventing the ban entirely. It remains one of the most ingenious acts of architectural branding in London's history.
What was the Oxo Tower originally used for?
The original structure (c.1900) was a power station serving the Royal Mail. After Albert Moore's 1928–29 rebuild it became a cold store and distribution centre for Oxo products. The building fell into disuse and faced demolition in the 1970s and early 1980s before being rescued by Coin Street Community Builders, who restored it to a mixed-use building comprising shops, designer-maker studios, galleries, social housing, and the eighth-floor restaurant and public viewing gallery that opened in 1996.
Who saved the Oxo Tower from demolition?
Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB), a non-profit social enterprise, purchased the Oxo Tower and the surrounding South Bank site in 1984 with support from the Greater London Council. Their acquisition came at the end of a decade-long community campaign against plans for commercial office and hotel development on the South Bank. CSCB restored the tower in the 1990s and continue to manage it today, with profits reinvested into the local community.
Is the Oxo Tower listed?
No. Despite its historical significance, its place in London's architectural identity, and multiple awards received since its 1996 restoration, the Oxo Tower has not been granted listed building status by Historic England. This distinguishes it from many comparable landmark buildings on the South Bank.
Can you go inside the Oxo Tower?
The tower structure itself is not open to the public and is accessible for maintenance only. However, the eighth-floor public viewing gallery — part of the wider Oxo Tower Wharf complex — offers free panoramic views across the Thames to St Paul's Cathedral and the City of London, and is open during the building's regular operating hours.
What is in the Oxo Tower today?
Ground/first floors: designer-maker studios, shops, galleries. Second floor: event hire space. Third–seventh floors: 78 social housing flats. Eighth floor: Restaurant, bar, brasserie, and public viewing gallery.
Related architectural themes
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Sources and further reading
- Coin Street Community Builders — "Oxo Tower Wharf development and history" — https://coinstreet.org/about-us/our-developments/oxo-tower-wharf-development-and-history (official history from current owners)
- Wikipedia — "Oxo Tower" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxo_Tower
- Grace's Guide to British Industrial History — "Oxo Tower" — https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Oxo_Tower
- Londonist — "Was The Oxo Tower Really An Oxo Factory?" (29 March 2022) — first-hand account of tower access
- Londontopia — "Great London Buildings – Oxo Tower on the Southbank" (25 July 2017)
- Survey of London — volumes covering South Bank development and 20th-century industrial architecture
- Alan Powers — Britain: Modern Architectures in History (Reaktion Books, 2007) — includes discussion of interwar industrial buildings
- Elain Harwood — England: A Guide to Post-War Listed Buildings (Batsford, 2003) — discusses Art Deco industrial heritage
