This image is inspired by André Derain’s painting from the same spot on the Thames shore looking towards St Paul’s (Blackfrairs Bridge 1906). In the foreground are two lifebelts, separated by an X. Immediately behind this view is the OXO Tower, one of London’s most original and iconic landmarks. Originally built as an electricity power station supplying the Royal Mail post office, the site was acquired in the 1920s by the Liebig Extractors of Meat Company, makers of the famous OXO beef stock cube product. The building was converted into a cold store and the front rebuilt in an Art Deco style by architect Albert Moore. In the new design Liebig wanted to include a tower featuring illuminated signs advertising the name of its OXO product. However, skyline advertising was banned on the south bank at that time so Liebig’s application was rejected. Then a light-bulb moment occurred for Liebig’s cunning advertisers: with some imaginative thinking the Tower was built in four sets of three vertically-aligned windows, each of which ‘coincidently’ happened to be in the shape of a circle, a cross, and another circle below.
