Modern Restoration For 1920s Furniture Galleries Which Supplied Harrods

Turnham Green Terrace landmark became Dynasty boutique and a bookshop

The building in 1929

It wasn't the sort of place to attract the attention of English Heritage. Nor was there a blue plaque signifying a famous former occupant.

But all the same, No. 12 Turnham Green Terrace had history.
As Chiswick Furniture Galleries, which made pieces for stores such as Harrods, Maples and Heal’s, it was a landmark for locals since 1921.

The business – showroom at the front, workshop at the back – was founded by Paul Leo, whose
Jewish father fled to England from Eastern Europe in about 1875 to escape the threat of pogroms and persecution.

Now Paul senior’s grandson, also Paul Leo, one of the family members who together owned the
outdated building, has replaced it with a distinctly 21st Century one. Already it has attracted attention for its elegant facade, which blends seamlessly with nearby buildings. Several locals contacted the builder to say it was “very attractively designed”.

But behind the traditional look is state of the art technology that is meant to allow the building to withstand anything the future might throw at it. Hidden from view on the roof are solar panels that will keep down the cost of electricity for tenants and lower the building’s carbon footprint. There is no air conditioning. Instead, an environmentally friendly heat recovery system cleans the air and controls the temperature.

“We are very proud of it,” said Paul, 60, who was born and brought up in Bedford Park, though he now lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire. “We can’t quite claim it is carbon free, but it virtually is. We built it to last, as a family investment for the long term.”

Paul’s grandfather closed the furniture business and retired in 1951. Later, after he died, the
building was passed to Paul’s father, Lewis, and uncle, Maurice. Lewis inherited his father’s craftsmanship and took his skills to the BBC, where he helped to build Doctor Who’s Tardis.

Maurice was a car fanatic and the family still has a picture of the furniture business, taken probably in the early 1920s, with his magnificent Lagonda parked outside.

The brothers let the building to tenants who included a firm of solicitors and a tailor. It was also
briefly a motor repair shop.

People will remember it as Dynasty, which sold nearly new designer clothes, and then the Chiswick Bookshop

As tenants made random changes to the structure, over the years the building became “higgledypiggledy”, said Paul. It was also in poor repair and the family decided to knock it down and rebuild. Paul and Maurice’s son Chris led the project on behalf of the two sides of the family, while the job of demolishing the old building and constructing the new one fell to Tommy Lennon, 48, of SOS Construction, originally from Co. Clare, Ireland, but who has lived in London for the past eight years.

In June, 2017, Tommy began pulling down the crumbling building. He uncovered evidence of bomb damage and Ministry of Defence experts had to examine the site for possible unexploded Nazi ordnance. Luckily, they found nothing.

Working on a design by architects 10 Forward Studios, of Bury St Edmunds, Tommy then began
constructing a building sympathetic to Chiswick’s past but using “earthquake-proof techniques” that will ensure it needs minimal maintenance for the next 50 years.

The construction work was project managed by the local practice of Huntsman Eldridge Surveyors Ltd. The building now consists of four commercial units, two of which are taken by Luminis Beauty Spa as its head office and another by long-term tenant Barrecore, which runs fitness classes.

The ground floor retail unit is waiting to be let by local agent MJ FINN Commercial.

January 17, 2020