Central London could get a new covered alley, running through a building from Dean Street to Soho Square, if plans to refurbish Twentieth Century Fox’s former London headquarters go ahead.

(c) 31-32 Soho Square consultation

The site includes 31-32 Soho Square – formerly known as Twentieth Century House, 65-66 Frith Street, 10 Chapone Place and 22-25 Dean Street.

The Twentieth Century House, which comprises most of the site facing Soho Square, was built in 1936 for Twentieth Century-Fox Film Company and served as its head office until they moved out in 2020. It’s been empty ever since.

Behind it is a block facing onto Dean Street that’s a mix of restaurant, a couple of floors of offices, and three floors of flats.

Between them is a goods delivery yard leading onto Dean Street.

The developer plans to merge the two main buildings into a single office block and at the same time, open up the delivery yard space as a public courtyard.

It’s not the first time a development has been planned for this cluster of buildings, and a scheme to demolish them was withdrawn in 2019. This scheme preserves their external appearance while refurbishing them internally.

The courtyard can only be accessed from Dean Street, so as part of the plans, a section of the ground floor of Twentieth Century House would be turned into a covered alley leading to the courtyard – and hence, onto Dean Street as well.

Current layout
Proposed layout (c) 31-32 Soho Square consultation

The new archway initially appears to be punching through at random, but in fact, an arch style doorway was there before the current building was constructed.

Ackermann’s The Repository of Arts, volume 8. 1812

The corner building used to be owned by Joseph Banks, a botanist who sailed on Captain Cook’s ship The Endeavour, and it was here that Banks built his ‘herbarium’ before going on to advise Kew Gardens. The house was also a hub of scientific thinking, with many of the leading figures of the time visiting it.

So, if the planning application is approved, you will be able to “walk through Joseph Bank’s front door” as was often visited by the cleverest scientists of the past.

A consultation is here.