[1] Derry and Toms new Art Deco department store was opened in 1933.

The gardens were laid out between 1936 and 1938 by Ralph Hancock, a landscape architect who had just created the "Gardens of the Nations" on the 11th floor of the RCA Building in New York, on the instructions of Trevor Bowen (then vice-president of Barkers, the department store giant that owned the site and constructed the building).

[2] The building housed the department store Derry and Toms until 1973, and then Biba until 1975.

[5] Virgin ceased its operation of the Roof Gardens in January 2018 and the site is currently closed to the public.

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Founder of OVO Energy and Vertical Aerospace acquired the site in 2021 and will be re-opening The Roof Gardens as a three-storey social club in 2024.