London’s Tallest And Thinnest Door
London’s tallest and thinnest door in London is situated on Flitcroft Street, near Covent Garden.
Opened in 1904, the building was once home to the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms, and it was used to store and produce theatre scenery and backdrops.
The unusually tall and thin green door allowed the huge scenery to be manoeuvred in and out of the building.
However, the door was not always so large..
Pictures found from the 1900s suggest it was initially only one storey high, but the door doubled in length over time.
This was potentially because it couldn't keep up with the growing size of theatre backdrops.
The brick building was transporting things like this (image above).
The door allowed people to move items safely without damaging them.
The unique door is more than 100 years old, and it nearly fell victim to two nearby bombings.
In 1992, the IRA left a bomb outside the building - but luckily, the bomb didn’t manage to cause much damage.
The devastating IRA bomb, however, killed one person and injured 44.
Other nearby buildings were not so lucky.
Some were severely damaged by the shockwaves, and experts say that the terror attack marked a turning point in how security is dealt with in the capital.
Nowadays, the painting room is still intact and functioning even, however, it is no longer run by the Elms Lesters business.
The studio was converted into an art gallery in 1984 and has been used as a location for photoshoots ever since.
Reacting to the post on social media, someone said: “ I used to live around the corner in Denmark Street, mid 70’s and got chatting through that very door with a guy busy painting a film hoarding for Leicester Square.
”How do you step back and see how it’s going? Don’t need to - we just square it up. Interesting gaff and hidden gem.”
Another person added: “There was a similar scenery warehouse with a 3 floor height door on Penrose Street in Southwark until a few years ago.
”But it was converted into flats and they replaced the whole frontage of the building. Historical vandalism.”
Someone else said: “It has an incredible space inside as well! There’s a mechanism the full width of each wall which can move up and down to help painting.
”From memory, I think the mechanism spans the full height of the building.”
This blog post was inspired by Living London History | Jack Chesher.
You can check out his posts on Twitter and Facebook by clicking the link above.
It’s an interesting little gem to visit if you’re in or around Flitcroft Street, near Covent Garden in London.
But please be note that entry through this door is not permitted, and parking infract of it is also prohibited.
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