# Shell Mex House

> This file is a plain-text rendition of a page on mytuur.com, generated from the same data as the HTML version.

Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/london/spot/shell-mex-house/

Content updated: 2026-06-22

Shell Mex House is a Grade II listed Art Deco office building on London’s Strand, overlooking the River Thames. Portland stone shapes its stepped profile above the river. Frances Milton Cashmore and Ernest Joseph designed Shell Mex House as the headquarters of Shell Mex and BP in London’s interwar period. The river-facing tower carries a broad clock face. That clock exceeds the Elizabeth Tower’s clock face in diameter and once carried the London nickname Big Benzene. Marble figures by William Charles Holland King decorate the building. The site’s earlier history includes Bedford House, Salisbury House and the Hotel Cecil, linking aristocratic estates with grand hotel architecture. The Hotel Cecil’s Strand-facing façade survives within this setting. A wartime bomb damaged Shell Mex House, while government departments used the offices for supply administration and fuel rationing. The building later returned to Shell Mex and BP. Its later occupants included Pearson, Vodafone and PricewaterhouseCoopers, and its Grade II listing recognizes architectural and historical significance. The official name is Eighty Strand, but Shell Mex House remains widely used.

- City: [Greater London](https://mytuur.com/en/city/london/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ShellMexHouse_68c53c82e7953b133753b99e_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_-_green_plaque.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ShellMexHouse_68c53c82e7953b133753b99e_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shell_Mex_House_Mars_2014_01.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ShellMexHouse_68c53c82e7953b133753b99e_2.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Логотип_Shell.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ShellMexHouse_68c53c82e7953b133753b99e_3.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eighty_strand_building_logo.png)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_ShellMexHouse_68c53c82e7953b133753b99e_4.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:W_C_H_KING_Shell_Mex_1932.jpg)

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