How Good Do These Jensens Look At The Restored Centre Point, The Famous 1960s London Skyscraper

The famously brutalist Centre Point 1960s London skyscraper was designed by Swiss-British architect Richard Seifert, who back then owned a Jensen FF. So following the restoration of the landmark building, which sits between New Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road Underground station, what better way to mark the reopening than with not one but two Jensens—and how good do they look amid the harsh concrete!

Architects MICA have restored and redeveloped Centre Point, retaining the essence of the original 1960s design but adding new working spaces. To pay homage to Richard Seifert, who passed away in 2001, they contacted Jensen specialists Cropredy Bridge to source the two cars: a restored 1967 FF Vignale Chassis 6 and a 1974 Interceptor Mark 3.

Centre Point was built between 1963 and ’66, and for a while was London’s tallest building, with 33 stories. It attracted controversy from the start, not just for its looks but because it was deliberately left empty for years, even during the 1970s housing crisis, as the owners held out for a single tenant rather than leasing individual floors for the then-required 10 or 15-year terms. In 1980 it became the HQ of the Confederation of British Industry, which stayed until 2014. It has since become a mix of office space and apartments, and is Grade II listed. The reworking by MICA was prompted by the nearby Crossrail developments.

“We were delighted to find the enthusiastic Cropredy Bridge Cars, whose technical understanding of a classic car design from the exuberant ’60s and ’70s matched our passion for the remarkable architecture of Centre Point from the same era,” said MICA’s James Kirk. “We have been working for over eight years to restore and renew the buildings and landscape of the complex, which were built in the era of the car, with the tower as the centrepiece of a large traffic gyratory system.

“We have transformed the area by removing the road under Centre Point Link, refocussing the complex towards a new public square. Cropredy Bridge’s spectacularly restored classic Jensens complemented the renewed architecture of the complex and provided a striking allusion to the excitement and exuberance of the era in which it was originally made.”

Images courtesy of MICA and Cropredy Bridge Cars