Designed by the architect William Curtis Green, the Grade II* listed building was erected by Wolseley Motors in 1921 as their regional offices with a ground floor showroom.

[2] The six-story building was commissioned by Wolseley Motors, a part of the Vickers engineering combine, which bought the site in 1919 for a car showroom and London sales offices.

It was designed by the English architect William Curtis Green, drawing inspiration from a recently constructed bank building that he had seen in Boston, Massachusetts.

[5] After the closure of the Barclays branch in 1999, the premises were refurbished and initially turned into a Chinese restaurant ("The Orient at China House")[6] until the building was purchased in July 2003 by the restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, who began a major restoration and renovation project, though they retained many of the original features.

Apart from covering the red lacquer columns with a black wrapping, the present interior remains very close to the original designs of William Curtis Green.