Shell Mex House
The local of the former Hotel Cecil where the RAF was formed.
Location: 80 The Strand, Westminster, WC2R 0DT
Description: Shell Mex House is a striking art deco grade II listed building built in 1930 on the former site of the Hotel Cecil, one of the biggest and most luxurious in Europe with over 800 rooms when it opened in 1886.
The Royal Air Force was formed in the hotel and had its first headquarters here on the 1st April 1918. A green plaque marks the site.
The building was for many years the London headquarters of Shell-Mex and BP Ltd for who it was originally built, but most of the building today houses companies run by Pearson.
Unusually, it is situated behind the original facade of the Hotel Cecil, inbetween the Adelphi and the Savoy Hotel.
From the River it stands out as one of the most identifiable buildings because of it's massive clock face, the largest in England, larger than Big Ben even.
In the final scene of the 2016 action-game-made-film Assassin's Creed, the hero Callum Lynch and two other surviving assassins stand astride Shell Mex House and survey London.
Aviation
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The local of the former Hotel Cecil where the RAF was formed. |
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Other places nearby:
The Skinny House», 4.6km
Ham House», 9.4km
Kew Palace», 7.6km
Christ Church Tower», 0.9km
London's Oldest Terraced Houses», 3.2km
Cathedral of Sewage», 5.3km
Birth of Architect Edwin Lutyens», 2.5km
The Sun House», 4.0km
David Adjaye's Lost House», 1.6km
Dagenham on Screen», 12.km
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pinpointing the forgotten and lost history of London
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