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Listing: Car factory, now works. 1905-6 with minor late C20
alterations. By Joseph Lavender, FRIBA, for the Sunbeam Motor Car Co., and
incorporating the first workshop in which a Sunbeam motor car was produced.
Automotive House was the first purpose-built works of the Sunbeam Motor Car
Company and one of the earliest car factories in England.
Comment: The building is now the Guru Teg Bahadur Sikh temple. The
words "Automotive House", inscribed above the door, are now hidden by the
temple's sign. The frontage shown above contains the offices and there are
extensive brick-built buildings behind. This is a typical layout for industrial
buildings of the time.
The words "incorporating the first workshop in which a Sunbeam motorcar was
produced" might not be quite accurate - it might only incorporate the site of
the workshop where some development work on the first Sunbeam car was carried
out . It is likely that the first Sunbeam car was partly or wholly
produced at Sunbeamland.
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