The former premises of Messrs. Montague Burton in London’s Forest Gate still stand today and are located at 22-26, Woodgrange Road, E.7. Typical of what Burton looked for with their new developments, the building occupies a prominent corner site, at the junction with Post Office Approach.

It is unclear when the tailoring company vacated the former East London store, yet ironically, given the obvious Burton design cues, the building was, in fact, more recently known locally as the ‘Courts’ building, a reference to the failed furniture retailer that also previously occupied the site.

In 2001, plans were submitted to Newham Council for the demolition and redevelopment of the site with flats, however the application was eventually withdrawn, and the local landmark ‘Art Deco’ building now sits within Newham Council’s Forest Gate Town Centre Conservation Area, offering it some degree of protection.

The new premises were originally constructed in 1938, as evidenced by two surviving foundation stones, which were laid by two of Montague Burton’s three sons: Stanley Howard Burton (1914-1991); and Raymond Montague Burton (1917-2013).

Whilst still visible, sadly the building’s current occupier, Poundland, have painted over the original emerald pearl granite stones with a garish green paint, in keeping with their own corporate colour scheme, which has itself started to blister, peel and fall away in places. As with other former sites that Burton have since vacated, given the complete replacement of the original shopfront, it is possible that further stones have been lost through the years.

The building’s principal facade bears a striking similarity to those of Brentwood, Palmers Green and Southgate, all of which were designed under the same direction of Nathaniel Martin, who led the Burton Architects Department from the late 1930’s onwards. Like Brentwood, another wide site, there are seven architectural bays to the main frontage at Forest Gate, separated by six Empire stone pilasters.

Emphasising the corner site, however, another two pilasters were incorporated in to the shorter Post Office Approach facade. The exterior also features the usual ‘Art Deco’ friezes above each of the main windows, with those above the second floor being identical to the geometric repeating pattern seen at Southgate, whilst the original red brick parapet wall survives intact.

In 2002 plans were approved to convert the upper storeys of the building to residential use. Behind the front parapet, a third floor was added to the rear of the building, however this has been done sympathetically, carefully matching the original brickwork and mortar. The 15 new flats are now known as ‘Goshawk House’.

As part of the conversion, the original metal windows at first and second floor level were replaced, yet once again this was carried out on the basis that the new steel units closely matched the original design. As such, the principal facade of the former Forest Gate store is of a much higher quality than any of the other sites mentioned above, all of which have seen clumsy uPVC replacement windows installed in recent years.

April, 2019.