Hammer House

The Soho Society’s planning group, which meets monthly and reviews all planning applications for Soho,  has been alerted to an application for 113-117 Wardour Street, more commonly known as the “Hammer House of Horror”. You can review the application by looking on the council’s planning website with reference 25/04668/FULL.

While most of the application relates to the rear of the building, the application includes proposed upgrades to the frontage on Wardour Street.

This is the proposed frontage:-

This is existing:-

The Planning Group has raised concerns with the applicant about the loss of the Hammer House signage given its long association with the film and TV industry and with Soho and Wardour Street itself.  If you think the existing signage should be retained let us and the council know. We are Interested to hear from film companies, historians, film buffs or anyone with a view on Soho’s public realm and heritage. 

This is some of the history of the business and the building.

The company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s including  Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time.

Here is an example:-

Hammer House, located on Wardour Street, is an historic building that was once the home of Hammer Film Productions. The Art Deco style building was originally constructed in the 1920s and features an attractive portland stone facade with large windows and classic detailing.

Exclusive Films was run by a comedian and businessman called William Hinds in conjunction with a former cinema owner and Spanish émigré, Enrique Carreras.

In November 1934, the pair had registered a new film company called Hammer Productions Limited. The company name came from Hinds’ stage name, Will Hammer, which in turn came from the place Hinds called home: Hammersmith.

The following years saw bankruptcy and liquidation for Hammer Productions; but Exclusive survived. And by 1949, Hammer was back.

On 12 February of that year, Exclusive registered Hammer Film Productions as a company with Enrique and James Carreras, and William and Tony Hinds as directors.

Hammer moved into the Exclusive offices in 113-117 Wardour Street, and the building was rechristened ‘Hammer House’. By the late 1950s, the company would dominate the horror market, enjoying international success.

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