Egypt in England - Carreras Cigarette Factory

Camden, London

Greater London House
180 Hampstead Road
London NW1 7AW

For Ancient Egypt and Bastet fans - a must see is the Carreras Cigarette Factory building.  I visited this building back in June 2014

My photographs below don't do it justice - visit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Carreras_Cigarette_Factory for lots more photos

Its a large art deco building and a wonderful example of early 20th Century Egyptian Revival Architecture. Its located near Mornington Crescent Tube Station in London.

Originally a cigarette factory erected in 1926/28 it is now an office building but the exterior is still something to see.

Wonderful features of the facade include large cat statutes flanking the entrance

 

and cats in the roundels in the upper façade.  

 

The original Egyptian detailing was lost in 1961 but it was restored during the 1990s renovation.  Replicas of the original cats were placed at the entrance and cats replaced the Aten/solar disc of the sun-god Ra in the roundels.

 

The columns are thought to have been inspired by columns in tombs found at Armarna (the ancient capital of the Heretic pharaoh Akhenaten

 

From the tomb of Panehesy c.1330 BC*

 

 

 

*reference Wikipedia, By kairoinfo4u: Mutnedjmet - https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/4127883553/in/set-72157622861795438/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9058252

 

 

The book Egypt in England by Chris Elliott gives more details of this building and many other places of interest in England which have an ancient Egyptian flavour.   'aimed at anyone with an interest in Ancient Egypt and architectural history'  Visit the website to accompany this book too for lots more interesting information too- Egypt in England

 

Hopefully in years to come I will visit and blog more of these.