The Spectacular World of R. Seifert & Partners

Few architectural practices altered the skyline of post-war Britain as radically, prolifically, or provocatively as R. Seifert & Partners. Led by the enigmatic, impeccably dressed Colonel Richard Seifert, the firm transformed London from a bomb-scarred, low-rise capital into a gleaming metropolis of futuristic towers, structural grids, and jet-set swagger. While mid-century planning circles often fixated on austere municipal functionalism and understated brickwork, Seifert brought something entirely different to British commercial development: high drama, muscular structural expressionism, and pure space-age commercial optimism.

Seifert himself was a singular figure in British culture. A swiss-british, jewish veteran of the Royal Engineers who insisted on using his military rank throughout his career, he swept through London in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, wearing bespoke Savile Row suits and holding early car phones while negotiating complex planning consents. Working six days a week from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Seifert possessed an uncanny ability to navigate municipal bylaws, unlocking tight urban plots that rivals deemed unbuildable. Alongside his brilliant design partner George Marsh, who brought a bold, sculptured flair influenced by Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier, the practice created a visual language that felt entirely alien to the struffiness of traditional British architecture.

Rather than relying on flat glass curtain walls, Seifert & Partners treated concrete as a luxury material. They sculpted structural elements out of precast Portland stone aggregate, bronze-tinted glass, capstone units, and deeply recessed geometric modules. Their buildings looked as though they had landed from an advanced galactic civilization, glittering with three-dimensional depth, deep-set shadows, and kinetic rhythms. Though controversial during his lifetime due to his association with high-profile property developers (a controversy that belied the architectural establishment's narrow horizons and petty clanishness), Seifert’s work has undergone a massive critical reappraisal. Today, his towers are celebrated as triumphs of mid-century design, engineering, and structural expressionism.

Here is a journey through five of the practice's most extraordinary creations, cornerstone masterpieces featured in our dedicated Seifert Collection.

1. Centre Point (1966): The Pop Art Skyscraper

Standing 33 storeys above the junction of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, Centre Point is perhaps Seifert & Partners' most iconic creation. Commissioned by property tycoon Harry Hyams and designed in close partnership with lead architect George Marsh, this soaring tower was conceived as a bold, modern focal point for West End commerce and leisure. It was a radical statement of optimism, stepping away from the flat, monotonous glass facades that dominated the era to introduce something deeply textural, athletic, and sculptural.

The defining feature of Centre Point is its remarkable, almond-shaped (in plan) three-dimensional honeycomb facade. Constructed from precast, load-bearing concrete units made with crushed Portland stone, the cruciform modules lock together into a repeating diamond grid that extends up the full height of the building. These deep, faceted window reveals act as natural light traps, casting stark, shifting geometric shadows across the surface as the sun moves across London. At its base, the entire 117-metre tower appears to hover weightlessly above a glass-walled showroom streetscape, supported by dramatic pilotis. It captured the kinetic energy of Swingin' Sixties London and remains an undisputed masterclass in pop-art structural design.

 

2. Space House (1968): The Cylindrical Wonder

Just a short walk away on Kingsway, Space House (originally built for the Civil Aviation Authority and formally known as One Kemble Street) took Seifert and Marsh's geometric experimentation to spectacular new, circular heights. Designed on a complex island site, the project comprises a 16-storey cylindrical tower connected by a two-level enclosed bridge to a rectilinear eight-storey block. The circular footprint was chosen for its spatial efficiency, allowing maximum natural light to filter down to the narrow surrounding streets while offering column-free interior floorplates flooded with daylight.

The exterior skin of the tower is an absolute marvel of precast concrete engineering. The facade is assembled from interlocking, white concrete cruciform blocks, installed without scaffolding in a strict, lattice-like grid pattern. Each 10-foot module matches the height of a single floor, creating a rhythmic, woven texture that wraps continuously around the cylinder. Resting at ground level on heavy Y-shaped capstone concrete columns, Space House feels less like an administrative office block and more like a piece of space-age kinetic sculpture. Its recent, meticulous restoration has confirmed its status as one of the most sophisticated mid-century workplace designs in Britain.

 

3. Gateway House (1969): The Sinuous Curve of Manchester

While Seifert’s footprint in London was vast, his practice also delivered key urban interventions across Britain's other cities, adapting their geometric style to serve dynamic municipal sites. Gateway House, situated directly on the approach to Manchester Piccadilly Station, is widely considered one of the finest urban gateway designs of the post-war era.

Stretching gracefully along a prominent curve in the roadway, the building features a sweeping, undulating facade that gently channels arriving rail passengers down toward the city centre. Rather than confronting the street with a flat wall, Seifert used a sinuous horizontal composition: long bands of dark ribbon glazing set against crisp white precast spandrels. With its clean lines, subtle overhangs, and marine-like elegance, Gateway House possesses a cinematic, jet-set quality reminiscent of a luxury ocean liner or an international airport terminal, bringing an immediate dose of mid-century optimism and flair to Manchester's streetscape.

 

4. No. 1 Croydon (1970): The Octagonal 'Threepenny Bit'

As outer London suburban centres expanded into major commercial hubs in the late 1960s, Seifert produced one of his most visually striking creations directly adjacent to East Croydon station. Originally built as the NLA Tower but affectionately known to generations of locals as the "Threepenny Bit" building, No. 1 Croydon rises 24 storeys through a series of stacked, regular octagonal floorplates.

The building’s extraordinary graphic presence comes from its clever, staggered floor plan. Each octagonal level branches outward over the one below before stepping back, supported by external precast concrete struts that resemble bold geometric brackets. Framed in deep bronze-tinted glass and clad in smooth, pale aggregate, the tower resembles a giant, perfectly faceted crystal growing out of the urban floor. By turning structural support into the primary decorative element, Seifert created a building that alters its appearance dramatically from every angle, standing as a masterwork of sculptural commercial planning.

 

5. Tower 42 / NatWest Tower (1980): The Ultimate Corporate Monolith

Reaching a towering height of 183 metres (600 feet), the National Westminster Bank Tower (now Tower 42) was Seifert’s ultimate technical triumph and, upon its completion in 1980, stood as the tallest building in the United Kingdom and the second-tallest in Western Europe. Rising from a tight, historic site in the heart of the City of London, the building represents the apex of late twentieth-century financial confidence and engineering daring.

The tower’s unique floor plan famously mirrors the three-chevron emblem of the NatWest Bank logo. Three vertical, cantilevered office shafts cling to a massive central concrete core, stepping outward as they rise before tapering gracefully near the summit. Clad in dark polished granite, stainless steel, and bronze-reflective glass, Tower 42 cuts a sharp, dark, sci-fi presence against the sky. Floating above a slender ground-floor footprint to navigate the dense street grid below, and famously glowing bright orange on the skyline during sunsets as its stainless-steel fins catch the low sun, it redefined the skyline of London for over two decades and established an enduring benchmark for structural ambition in high-rise architecture.

The Seifert Legacy

R. Seifert & Partners understood something crucial that many mid-century practices overlooked: commercial buildings do not have to be dull boxes. They can be dynamic, expressive, and deeply memorable. By pairing daring structural engineering with intricate, beautifully sculpted, jewel-like precast concrete facades, Seifert gave post-war Britain a unique visual language of space-age optimism.

Our Seifert Collection pays homage to these landmark structures, translating their rich geometries and dramatic lines into art posters, t-shirts, totes, and desk accessories, allowing you to bring a piece of space-age modernist heritage into your daily life.