Quick Facts
Biography
Richard Seifert (born Reubin Seifert, 25 November 1910 – 26 October 2001) was a Swiss-British architect, best known for designing the Centrepoint tower and Tower 42 (previously the NatWest Tower), once the tallest building in the City of London. His eponymously named practice – R. Seifert and Partners (later the R. Seifert Co-Partnership) was at its most prolific in the 1960s and 1970s, responsible for many major office buildings in Central London as well as large urban regeneration projects in other major British cities.
Biography
Seifert was born to a Swiss family and came to London when young. He attended the Central Foundation Boys' School and subsequently obtained a scholarship to the Bartlett School of Architecture, graduating in 1933. Seifert served in the Royal Engineers during World War II.
Seifert is widely recognized for having influenced 1960s and 1970s London architecture. Other examples of his work in London include Euston Station, Drapers Gardens and the King's Reach Tower, as well as numerous commercial buildings – principally hotels and office blocks – in and around London. His practice also designed commercial buildings and social housing developments in other major British cities – most notably Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.
Seifert and his company were responsible for more London buildings than Sir Christopher Wren and designed more than 500 office blocks across the UK and Europe.
Following his retirement in 1984, his son John Seifert who had worked with his father for 15 years, took over the practice, which survived in various forms until 2010. John Seifert now practices under the name Sigma Architects in the UK and Seifert Architects LLC abroad – continuing the legacy of hotel and commercial developments begun by his father.
List of works
London and suburbs
- 90 Long Acre, Westminster
- Barnet House, High Road, Barnet
- Blackfriars Station, Queen Victoria Street, City of London (to be demolished)
- Beagle House, Tower Hamlets
- Britannia Hotel (Millennium Mayfair), Grosvenor Square, Mayfair
- Centre Point, New Oxford Street, Camden
- Corinthian House, Lansdowne Road, Croydon
- Drapers Gardens, Throgmorton Avenue, City of London (demolished)
- Essoldo Paddington Cinema, Great Western Road, Westminster (demolished)
- Euston Station, Eversholt Street, Camden
- Exchange House, Watford
- Hilton London Metropole, Edgware Road, Westminster
- Holborn Centre, Holborn, Camden
- I.C.T. House, Putney High Street, Putney
- International House, Chiltern Street, Westminster (demolished)
- International Press Centre, Shoe Lane, City of London
- King's Reach Tower, Stamford Street, Southwark
- Kings Mall, King Street, Hammersmith 1980
- Kellogg House, Baker Street, Westminster
- Limebank House, Gracechurch Street, City of London (demolished)
- London Forum Hotel (Kensington Forum Hotel)[1], Cromwell Road, Kensington and Chelsea
- New Printing House Square, Gray's Inn Road, Camden
- New London Bridge House, 5 London Bridge Street, Southwark (demolished – site now occupied by The News Building)
- No. 1 Croydon (the NLA Tower), Addiscombe Road, Croydon
- One Kemble Street (Space House), off Kingsway, Camden
- Orbit House, Blackfriars Road, Southwark (demolished)
- Planet House, Baker Street, Westminster
- Princess Grace Hospital, Nottingham Place, Westminster
- Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Bayswater Road, Westminster
- Riverview House, Beavor Lane, Hammersmith
- Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington High Street, Kensington and Chelsea
- Royex House, Aldermanbury Square, City of London (demolished)
- 1, 2 & 3 St John’s Square, Finsbury (now known as Gate House, 1 St John's Square, Clerkenwell, Islington)
- St Martin's Lane Hotel, Covent Garden, Westminster
- The Park Tower Knightsbridge, a Luxury Collection hotel, Knightsbridge
- Sobell Sports Centre, Hornsey Road, Islington
- Telstar House, Eastbourne Terrace, Westminster (demolished)
- Tolworth Tower, Ewell Road, Tolworth, Kingston upon Thames
- Tower 42, Old Broad Street, City of London
- Wembley Hotel & Conference Centre, Wembley (demolished)
- Westel House, Uxbridge Road, Ealing (demolished)
- Woolworth House, Marylebone Road, Westminster
Elsewhere
- Anderston Centre, Glasgow
- Alpha Tower, Ladywood, Birmingham
- ATV Centre, Broad Street, Birmingham (demolished)
- British Steel Corporation Research Laboratories, Middlesbrough
- Central Television Complex, Nottingham
- Centre City Tower, Hill Street, Birmingham
- Elmbank Gardens, Glasgow
- Concourse House, Lime Street, Liverpool, the scene of the giant mechanical spider La Princesse's first appearance in Liverpool; demolished 2008
- Gateway House, Piccadilly, Manchester
- Hexagon Tower (ICI Research Laboratories), Blackley, Manchester
- Metropole Hotel, Birmingham
- National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham
- Princess Margaret Hospital, Windsor
- Rival Lamps factory building, Brighton (demolished)
- Sussex Heights, Brighton
- Chartwell Court. Brighton
- Hilton House, Manchester