Michelin House
The Michelin Man stares out of three stained-glass windows above a building tiled, end to end, with the dawn of motor racing.
At a glance
Michelin House opened in 1911 as the British headquarters and tyre depot of the Michelin Tyre Company, on Fulham Road in Chelsea. It was designed by François Espinasse, and it advertises its trade everywhere: decorative tiles of early racing cars, glass and ironwork, and three stained-glass windows showing Bibendum, the Michelin Man, raising a glass.
Key facts
- Location: 81 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London
- Architect: François Espinasse
- Opened: 1911
- Style: Art Nouveau, with early Art Deco motifs
- Today: offices and shops
History
Michelin built the house as a depot where motorists could have tyres fitted while the company sold the idea of touring, with maps, guides and a star rating that still carries its name. Espinasse filled it with the firm’s own iconography.
After Michelin left, the building was restored in the 1980s and reopened with the Bibendum restaurant. The tiles, the windows and the lobby mosaics survive, an early case of a brand turned into architecture.
What you see
The front is busy and cheerful: tiled panels of famous racing cars, the company name in mosaic underfoot, and at first-floor level the three stained-glass Bibendums. The corner cupolas were once piles of stacked tyres in coloured glass. It sits between Art Nouveau and Art Deco, made when a tyre firm wanted a building people would remember.
Practical information
- Open: exterior any time; restaurant and shops in business hours
- Cost: free to view from the street
- Best for: the racing-car tiles and the Bibendum windows
- Time needed: 15–30 minutes
Getting there
Michelin House stands on Fulham Road in Chelsea, a short walk from South Kensington Underground (District, Circle and Piccadilly lines) and the great museums of Exhibition Road.
Nearby
- Victoria and Albert Museum — the design collections, a few minutes north
- Brompton Oratory — the Italianate church on Brompton Road
Sources
- Wikipedia — Michelin House
- Historic England — listed building record
- Wikimedia Commons — image source and licence
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