Historic highway designed with style

The Great West Road, in its heyday one of the principal westward highways out of London, is lined with an assortment of Art Deco buildings now regarded as the best of their kind.

'It was a kind of M4 corridor of the 1930s,' said Alan Powers, honorary secretary of the 20th Century Society. 'There was kudos attached to building offices and factories here. Architects made a special effort to impress with their designs.'

The proposed demolition of the Beechams Factory is not the first threat the area has faced. The imposing Firestone Tyre and Rubber Company building was knocked down in 1980 despite being similar in style to the famous Hoover building in Perivale, which was saved by a concerted local campaign and immortalised by Elvis Costello in his 'Hoover Factory' song.

The 20th Century Society believes the Great West Road between Chiswick roundabout and Syon Lane - dubbed by historians the Golden Mile - should be designated a linear conservation area because of its historical legacy and significance in the field of industrial architecture.

The necessity for a main road to link London with Bath and the west was recognised in 1909 when a report declared traffic congestion in Brentford 'intolerable'.

Driven by a need to provide employment after the First World War, the road was completed in 1925 and opened by King George V. Good road links and relatively cheap land soon attracted famous names.

Macleans manufactured peroxide toothpaste here (slogan: Did you Maclean your teeth today?). Henry Curry, who founded the electrical goods chain, was also attracted.

In 1936 the firm's house magazine waxed lyrical about the new headquarters: '. . .nowhere in the whole of the British Isles is there a road which will advertise Curry's to the world as the Great West Road.'

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