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The Life and Death of the Firestone Factory

27/7/2020

6 Comments

 
Sunday August 23rd 2020 is the 40th anniversary of the demolition of the Firestone Factory on the Great West Road in Brentford. It is an event which sparked a backlash against the quick demolition of such buildings (although it did not stop them) and galvanised the growing consensus around preserving 20th Century buildings. We shall explore the building itself and its design, and the aftermath of its demolition. 

The American Firestone Tire & Rubber Company had run a distribution base from Tottenham Court Road from 1915, but the 33.3% import tax was reducing their profit margin. By 1928 they had decided to build a British factory, and a 28 acre site alongside the newly opened Great West Road running out of Brentford was chosen. The plot was bounded by road, railway and canal, with the road frontage measuring 1260 feet, sloping down to the carriageway. Firestone wanted an integrated site, with raw goods being received and making their way through the factory and leaving as the finished product. Their factory in Akron, Ohio, built by Osborn Engineering, was designed to extract maximum efficiency from the journey of the raw material through the industrial process. In awarding the commission to Wallis, Gilbert & Partners, Firestone employed a practice who understood this idea. 
Picture
Firestone Factory, Akron, Ohio. Image from Crains Cleveland.
By the late 1920s, Wallis, Gilbert & Partners had already been practicing for around 12 years, designing factories and industrial buildings all over Britain. Two of those buildings were in nearby Hayes, for the Gramophone Company and Hayes Cocoa, but the Firestone commission was to be their most prestigious project yet. The design, which was submitted in February 1928 and altered over the next 6 months, consisted of a main administration block facing the Great West Road with the single storey factory building behind and a four storey dispatch and storage building further back. The journey of the raw material started in this four storey block, journeying through the production block before exiting as tyres back through the four storey building. 

Picture
Firestone Factory, Brentford under construction in 1928.
Of course it is the art deco office building which people conjure up when they think of the Firestone building. The building was to act not just as an administration centre but also as an advert for the company and for what we would these days call its “brand”, looking to project speed, glamour and aspiration. The building was a mix of Classical allusions. In plan it was a Greek or Roman temple with its row of columns along the frontage, in detail it was Egyptian, with references to the gods Horus, Ra and Amun in its decoration. Egyptian design was still popular 6 years after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter in 1922. By night the building was floodlit, producing a spectacular landmark along the Great West Road.  ​
Picture
Entrance way, Firestone Factory. Image from C20 Society.
Despite the lamentations at the time of its demise, and indeed now, the Firestone Factory was not always feted by the architectural press. After initial good notices when it was opened, the building and others designed by the firm were described by architect Maxwell Fry as displaying “all the worst sentimentalities of uncultured commercialism”, whilst others worried about the effect of soot and dust on the brilliant white facades. 
​

Firestone decided to close the factory in November 1979, moving all operations to their Wrexham plant, with the building being purchased by the conglomerate Trafalgar House. When they became aware that the Department of the Environment under Michael Heseltine was planning to list the building after the August Bank Holiday weekend in 1980, they immediately acted to demolish the art deco facade. This act caused widespread outrage, and boosted the profile of what was then The Thirties Society, now the 20th Century Society. It also caused a reassessment of the listing criteria for 20th Century buildings, allowing many more pre-1939 buildings to be preserved. 
Picture
The completed Firestone Factory. Image from C20 Society.
Picture
The Firestone Factory during demolition in 1980. Image from Pinterest.
Now all that survives of the building is the gateway and perimeter fence, although there are three other Wallis, Gilbert & Partners designs nearby; the Coty Factory, the Pyrene Factory and the Sir William Burnett workshop. Of course, the Firestone Factory wasn't the only art deco building demolished along this stretch. A peruse of the area on the Britain from Above website reveals a number of interesting looking buildings of the period, all now sadly gone. However, the Firestone Factory did not die in vain, its demolition led to a renewal of interest in buildings of period and their preservation, enabling us to enjoy some of the great designs of Wallis, Gilbert and Partners from the golden age of factory design.

The 20th Century Society still plays an important role in preserving the best buildings of the last 100 years. Help it prevent more demolitions like the Firestone Factory by becoming a member HERE

References
Form and Fancy by Joan Skinner
London: North West by Nikolas Pevsner and Bridget Cherry
6 Comments
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29/9/2020 07:52:43 am

Well! I know nothing about this factory and why it was demolished but after reading this article now I know the reality behind it. I think it is good that they preserved this building because young generation like me doesn’t know about it. Your articles are always very motivational and informative so keep up the good work.

Reply
Keith Knight link
5/8/2022 10:25:40 am

I was saddened when this happened & felt that there may well have been some mischief involved.

I mentioned this to my Pop who also was saddened & mentioned in its early days although not an area known to him he had passed by on a bus & got off at the next stop & walked back to take a long look.

Much as I had done 30+ years later.

Reply
John link
6/9/2022 03:10:46 pm

I can understand everyone being upset about the demise of an Art deco building.
There is no mention of the deaths this factory caused.
My father was one of the many who died of Asbestos's. On the estate I lived on many men worked there.
I went there on a college day trip to Firestone's, I remember the smell of the raw rubber and the heat from the steam pipes, everything seemed to be run on steam. But I do remember the asbestos lagging on all the pipes bright white almost clean looking. This was the cause of so many deaths . Even the wives of these men. The workers took there work-wear home to be cleaned. can you imagine how many asbestos fibres were taken home to be ingested before they were washed. No mention of these deaths. Not such a great building.

Reply
Ann Richards
6/10/2022 05:09:34 am

My Father was killed there ,crushed in a machine in August
.1971. He was 46 years old
.
This industrial accident destroyed all our lives especially my mother .Mrs B Lipscombe.

There are no mentions of lives destroyed in this plant or conditions these men worked under .

Reply
Marion McKeegan
17/9/2022 11:40:50 pm

I sympathise with John.
My dad who also worked for Firestone on the Great West Rd for many years sadly died.
I can remember sitting opposite him at the breakfast table before going to school. He was a young man just home from many a long nightshift, he looked grey and I can still smell that smell from his clothes.
Dad told me men would try to get a work there to help them get a mortgage as the pay was good but was piece work , based on amount of tyres you made . He said some men would leave as they could not keep up as it was such hard work .



Reply
Lesley
5/10/2022 09:38:31 pm

As to John comments regarding Firestone in Brentford the lives of many it took , I was 10years old when my father of 42 was killed in the moulding machine leaving my mother a widow and myself and my two older sisters without our dad , nobody knows the impact this had on our lives and over the years , our mother Beatrice Lipscombe never ever got over his death and the day he was killed our mother stopped living and we did too , I’m still in the area and still go past there every week and yet it still breaks my heart , and I will never ever get over my fathers death which has impacted me everyday of my life not having my dad sadly there is only myself the youngest daughter left and my older sister as sadly our mother died 19 years ago and our middle sister two years ago so please think of the families who have lost their love ones and the awful conditions our loved ones worked for Firestones and how they payed with their lives and leaving their families still crying many years of only bad memories

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