Black Cats of the Carreras Factory

The lowdown

Riding the Egyptomania that swept the world after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, the Carreras company built a spectacular cigarette factory in 1928 styled like an ancient temple, its long facade lined with lotus columns and painted in vivid colour. Guarding the entrance sit two enormous black cats, a nod to the company's Black Cat brand and to the Egyptian goddess Bastet.

Now an office building called Greater London House, its Egyptian glory was restored in the 1990s, including the giant cats. It is free to admire from the street, an astonishing and joyful piece of 1920s fantasy architecture in an unexpected corner of north London.