Broadly Art Deco in style, it was designed by Frances Milton Cashmore of the architectural firm of Messrs Joseph.

The clock is flanked by four large, hieratic marble figures at the south corners sculpted by William Charles Holland King.

Shell-Mex & BP was a joint venture company created by Shell and British Petroleum in 1932, when they decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations.

A green plaque was affixed to the wall just inside the gate in March 2008, proclaiming: "The Royal Air Force was formed and had its first headquarters here in the former Hotel Cecil 1st April 1918".

[6] On 17 May 2006, The Times reported that the building was for sale and that the Indian-Kenyan Kandhari family was the front-runner in the battle to buy it from the existing owners, Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz.