22 St Peter's Square (London)
Encyclopedia
22 St Peter's Square, in Hammersmith
, London, is a grade II Listed building with a former laundry that has been converted to an architects' studio and office building. It has previously been Island Records
' Headquarters and recording studios and The Royal Chiswick Laundry. It is now named Island Studios and is occupied by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
(architects), Omnifone
, Nick Stewart & Associates, (music management), Frost Meadowcroft
, (commercial property consultants) and the Change Management Group. The property is situated in the western corner of St Peter's Square, that was laid out and built from 1827, opposite St Peter's Church, Hammersmith
. In the basement of the rear of the building is the former studio of Island Records
known as The Fallout Shelter, 47 British Grove. Many musicians began their careers or recorded in the building; Steve Winwood
and Traffic
, Robert Palmer, Cat Stevens
, Bob Marley
, U2
, Nick Drake
and Sandy Denny
. It has a Hammersmith Society Conservation award plaque (2009) and has been included in tours in Architecture Week.
In 1929 John Piper
the artist (b 1903) lived in a flat at 22 St Peter's Square and then by the 1940s the house and laundry was owned by the then Mayor of Hammersmith, Alderman Sir Marshall Hays JP (b 1872). The laundry closed in 1968, then the buildings were for a time occupied by a company that added soundtrack to film before the property became the offices, recording studios and premises of Island Records, who moved in with a staff of 65.
, who moved in with a staff of 65. The house became the administrative offices of the company, where the legal and finance staff worked, while the former laundry buildings were the offices for the A&R, production, marketing, promotion and sales departments. The basement was converted into a small recording studio, called the Fallout Shelter with its entrance at 47 British Grove, incorporating the base of the chimney, which was occasionally used in recordings to add reverb to vocals. The recording studio, was described by Chris Blackwell
, the founder of Island Records
, as 'the little one in the back of Island Records at 47 British Grove.'
With the sound of recording sessions continuing late into the night, members of staff sleeping on the premises, the comings and goings of musicians, staff and visitors, the use of their parking spaces, and the noise all this made, caused friction between Island Records and some local residents. There was also a canteen above the studio. The roster of musicians recording on the Island label at this time included reggae artists Bob Marley and the Wailers who recorded some tracks for Exodus there, Toots and the Maytals, Aswad and Steel Pulse
. The 'non reggae' Island artists include Cat Stevens
, Robert Palmer and Steve Winwood
(working with the Spencer Davis Group
and Traffic
, and as a solo artist), Grace Jones
, Tom Waits
, Melissa Etheridge
, Amy Winehouse
and P J Harvey and their most successful signing, the Irish band U2
.
acquired the property on behalf of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
architects from Universal Music for £4.1m. The architects then proceeded to return the laundry sheds to their original open plan and restored most of the metal-framed windows to their nineteenth-century proportions. Historically significant features of the laundry, such as the boiler chimney and the incised lettering in the gable overlooking British Grove, have been retained and restored. Both these companies now occupy the space as studios and offices together with Nick Stewart & Associates. In recognition of its heritage the building is now called Island Studios.
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, London, is a grade II Listed building with a former laundry that has been converted to an architects' studio and office building. It has previously been Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
' Headquarters and recording studios and The Royal Chiswick Laundry. It is now named Island Studios and is occupied by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands is a practice of architects, urban designers and masterplanners established in 1986 and practicing out of London.-History:...
(architects), Omnifone
Omnifone
Omnifone is an independent provider of cloud based unlimited music services to consumer electronics vendors, mobile carriers and internet service providers including RIM,Sony,HP, Sony Ericsson, Vodafone, Telenor, Hutchison Telecom and Vodacom....
, Nick Stewart & Associates, (music management), Frost Meadowcroft
Frost Meadowcroft
Frost Meadowcroft is a professional services company specialising in commercial property consultancy. Its offices are at 22 St Peter's Square former offices of Island Records and at 181 Kensington High Street...
, (commercial property consultants) and the Change Management Group. The property is situated in the western corner of St Peter's Square, that was laid out and built from 1827, opposite St Peter's Church, Hammersmith
St Peter's Church, Hammersmith
St Peter's Church, Hammersmith is Anglican church, situated on Black Lion Lane and is the oldest church in Hammersmith.-History:When the church was built in the village of Hammersmith in 1829, all that surrounded it was meadows, market gardens and smallholdings...
. In the basement of the rear of the building is the former studio of Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
known as The Fallout Shelter, 47 British Grove. Many musicians began their careers or recorded in the building; Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
and Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, Robert Palmer, Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
and Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny , born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter, perhaps best known as the lead singer for the folk rock band Fairport Convention...
. It has a Hammersmith Society Conservation award plaque (2009) and has been included in tours in Architecture Week.
History
Number 22, unlike the predominant pattern of housing in St Peter's Square, consists of a trio of linked houses, each of three storeys plus basement, the only example of this layout in the square. The centre part is recessed, with a projecting Ionic colonnade to the ground floor forming a balcony to the raised ground floor, and this has a cast-iron balustrade in the 'Heart and Honeysuckle' Anthemion pattern. The houses on either side have two bays projecting beneath a pediment. Their outermost bays are recessed and have projecting porches with Ionic columns. The entrance to No. 22 retains the original eagle statue (of plaster or composite stone) on the porch. Paired statues of dogs sit on the piers flanking the steps up to the front door. Until the 1890s the large private garden at the rear of the house was laid out as a long rectangular lawn bordered by shrubs and trees, with an open field to the South.Royal Chiswick Laundry
By 1894 the garden was completely covered by laundry buildings. The Royal Chiswick Laundry Western Dying and Cleaning Works was constructed behind the house fronting British Grove, a lane to the rear. The laundry buildings consist of two long sheds running almost the full length of the former garden. They are of London stock brick with red brick window arches under slate roofs, with glazed skylights running along the roof ridges.In 1929 John Piper
John Piper (artist)
John Egerton Christmas Piper, CH was a 20th-century English painter and printmaker. For much of his life he lived at Fawley Bottom in Buckinghamshire, near Henley-on-Thames.-Life:...
the artist (b 1903) lived in a flat at 22 St Peter's Square and then by the 1940s the house and laundry was owned by the then Mayor of Hammersmith, Alderman Sir Marshall Hays JP (b 1872). The laundry closed in 1968, then the buildings were for a time occupied by a company that added soundtrack to film before the property became the offices, recording studios and premises of Island Records, who moved in with a staff of 65.
Island Records
In 1973, the property became the offices, recording studios and premises of Island RecordsIsland Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, who moved in with a staff of 65. The house became the administrative offices of the company, where the legal and finance staff worked, while the former laundry buildings were the offices for the A&R, production, marketing, promotion and sales departments. The basement was converted into a small recording studio, called the Fallout Shelter with its entrance at 47 British Grove, incorporating the base of the chimney, which was occasionally used in recordings to add reverb to vocals. The recording studio, was described by Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
, the founder of Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, as 'the little one in the back of Island Records at 47 British Grove.'
With the sound of recording sessions continuing late into the night, members of staff sleeping on the premises, the comings and goings of musicians, staff and visitors, the use of their parking spaces, and the noise all this made, caused friction between Island Records and some local residents. There was also a canteen above the studio. The roster of musicians recording on the Island label at this time included reggae artists Bob Marley and the Wailers who recorded some tracks for Exodus there, Toots and the Maytals, Aswad and Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse is a roots reggae musical band. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, in Birmingham, England, composed of David Hinds , Basil Gabbidon , and Ronald McQueen .-History:...
. The 'non reggae' Island artists include Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....
, Robert Palmer and Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
(working with the Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
and Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, and as a solo artist), Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
, Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
and P J Harvey and their most successful signing, the Irish band U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
.
Island Studios
In 2005 Frost MeadowcroftFrost Meadowcroft
Frost Meadowcroft is a professional services company specialising in commercial property consultancy. Its offices are at 22 St Peter's Square former offices of Island Records and at 181 Kensington High Street...
acquired the property on behalf of Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands is a practice of architects, urban designers and masterplanners established in 1986 and practicing out of London.-History:...
architects from Universal Music for £4.1m. The architects then proceeded to return the laundry sheds to their original open plan and restored most of the metal-framed windows to their nineteenth-century proportions. Historically significant features of the laundry, such as the boiler chimney and the incised lettering in the gable overlooking British Grove, have been retained and restored. Both these companies now occupy the space as studios and offices together with Nick Stewart & Associates. In recognition of its heritage the building is now called Island Studios.
External links
- http://www.lds-uk.com
- http://www.frostmeadowcroft.com
- http://www.islandrecords.com
- http://www.nickstewart.net.com
- http://www.johnpiper.org