Wolseley Motors
The six-storey building was commissioned by Wolseley Motors, a part of the Vickers engineering combine, which bought the site in 1919 for a car showroom and London sales offices. It was designed by the English architect William Curtis Green, drawing inspiration from a recently constructed bank building that he had seen in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, which opened in November 1921, features Venetian and Florentine-inspired detailing, with an interior decorated with lavish marble pillars and archways. Wolseley Motors lost its long-term leadership of the British car industry in the early 1920s and fell into receivership in 1926; the Wolseley showroom was sold in June 1926.