The Foyles Building at 111–119

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direc ...

and 1–12

Manette Street Manette Street is a small street in the Soho area of London, linking the Charing Cross Road to Greek Street. Dating from the 1690s, and formerly named Rose Street, it is now named after the fictional character of Dr Manette in Charles Dickens ...

, London, was the flagship store of the

Foyles Foyles, a trading name of Waterstones Booksellers Limited (formerly W & G Foyle Ltd.), is a bookseller with a chain of seven stores in England. It is best known for its flagship store in Charing Cross Road, London. Foyles was once listed in ...

bookshop chain from 1929 to 2014, and at one time, the world's largest bookshop. The business moved next door to 107–109 Charing Cross Road in 2014, in a redevelopment of the old

Saint Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

building. The building was demolished in 2017.

History

The building was designed by the architects F. Taperell and H. Haase and built from 1927 before opening in 1929. It was at one time claimed to be the world's largest bookshop. William Foyle stated that it was "the world's first purpose-built bookshop" (although this is disputed), as well as the world's largest. In 1932, on hearing that the Nazis were burning books, William Foyle sent Adolf Hitler a telegram asking if he could buy them instead. During the Second World War, to safeguard the store from the effects of

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of Hessian (cloth), hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunke ...

s filled with old books were used, and the roof was "covered" with copies of Hitler's ''

Mein Kampf (; ) is a 1925 Autobiography, autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The book outlines many of Political views of Adolf Hitler, Hitler's political beliefs, his political ideology and future plans for Nazi Germany, Ge ...

''. In an account in ''

The Argonaut ''The Argonaut'' was a newspaper based in San Francisco, California from 1878 to 1956. It was founded by Frank Somers, and soon taken over by Frank M. Pixley, who built it into a highly regarded publication. Under Pixley's stewardship it was ...

'', "News reels this week are showing a clerk of Foyle's of London stacking copies of Adolf Hitler's ''Mein Kampf'' in place of sand bags on the roof of the store as a protection against air raids!" In 1940, a bomb which landed in Charing Cross Road itself nearly destroyed the bookshop, and a bridge was built over the large crater, christened "Foyles Bridge" by William Foyle. Manette_Street

In 2014, the business, still family-owned, moved down the road to 107–109

, in a redevelopment of the old

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

art school building.

Demolition

The building, owned by

Soho Estates Soho Estates is a British property company created by the entrepreneur and pornographer Paul Raymond. The holdings of Soho Estates are mainly based in Soho, a district in the West End of London. As of March 2025, the company's portfolio has an ...

, was due to be demolished in autumn 2016, and replaced by a new 310,000 sq ft, 13-storey (including four basement floors) building, Ilona Rose House.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

, the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK charity and amenity society that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. As a statutory consultee, by l ...

, and SAVE Britain's Heritage asked the mayor of London,

Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...

, to reject the planned demolition. The building was demolished in 2017.

References

External links

* {{coord, 51.51478, N, 0.13004, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Bookshops in London Charing Cross Road Demolished buildings and structures in London Buildings and structures demolished in 2017