Selfridges’ Oxford Street flagship opened in 1909 as one of the first steel-framed buildings in the country, its grand Beaux-Arts facade concealing a store that grew piecemeal over more than a century into a labyrinth of interconnected buildings of varying age and style.
David Chipperfield Architects’ redevelopment created a new entrance and 5,000 sq m accessories hall on Duke Street, delivered by Sir Robert McAlpine — a project so structurally delicate that a main structural core had to be removed and the entire store temporarily jacked up onto a new steel frame while it stayed open and trading throughout. The Duke Street works completed in 2018.
