Burlington Arcade by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd 1827-28

Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in London, England, United Kingdom. It is long, parallel to and east of

Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...

from

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

through to Burlington Gardens. It is one of the precursors of the mid-19th-century European shopping gallery and the modern shopping mall. It is near the similar Piccadilly Arcade. The arcade was built in 1818 to the order of George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington, younger brother of William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, who had inherited the adjacent

Burlington House Burlington House is a building on Piccadilly in Mayfair, London. It was originally a private Neo-Palladian mansion owned by the Earls of Burlington and was expanded in the mid-19th century after being purchased by the British government. Toda ...

, on what had been the side garden of the house and was reputedly to prevent passers-by throwing oyster shells and other rubbish over the wall of his home. It was designed by architect

Samuel Ware Samuel Ware (1781-1860) was a British architect, who worked for the sixth Duke of Devonshire on his properties in England and Ireland. He is best known for having designed London's Burlington Arcade along the west side of Burlington House in Pi ...

. Burlington Arcade was built "for the sale of jewellery and fancy articles of fashionable demand, for the gratification of the public". However, it was also said to have been built so that the Lord's wife could shop safely amongst other genteel ladies and gentleman away from the busy, dirty, and crime-ridden open streets of London. Burlington Arcade opened on 20 March 1819. From the outset, it positioned itself as an elegant and exclusive upmarket shopping venue, with shops offering

luxury goods In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...

. It was one of London's earliest covered shopping arcades and one of several such arcades constructed in Western Europe in the early 19th century. (Other examples of grand shopping arcades include: Covered passages of Paris, Palais Royal in Paris (opened in 1784); Passage de Feydeau in Paris (opened in 1791), Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels and The Passage in St. Petersburg, the Galleria Umberto I in Naples, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (1878).) The original arcade consisted of a single straight top-lit walkway lined with 72 small two-storey units. Some of the units have been combined, reducing the number of shops to around 40. The Piccadilly façade, with sculptures carved by

Benjamin Clemens Benjamin Clemens (5 October 1875 – 27 December 1957) was a 20th-century sculptor who worked in London. Early life Clemens was born in Dalston, North London, the son of Richard Clemens, a salesman and warehouse worker originally from Cornwall. He ...

, a professor of sculpture at the Royal College of Art, was added in 1911. The arcade is patrolled by beadles in traditional uniforms that include top hats and frock coats. The original beadles were all former members of Lord George Cavendish's regiment, the

10th Royal Hussars The 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 11th Hussars (Prince A ...

. The arcade maintains Regency decorum by banning singing, humming, hurrying, and "behaving boisterously". The present tenants include a range of clothing, footwear and accessory shops, art and antique dealers, and the jewellers and dealers in antique silver for which the Arcade is best known.

Historical events

The arcade was almost destroyed by fire in 1836, when several shops were destroyed, in 1871, and in 1936, when the arcade was subject to looting. Parts of the arcade were badly damaged in a bombing raid during the Second World War. In 1964, a

Jaguar Mark X The Jaguar Mark X (Mark Ten), later renamed the Jaguar 420G, was British manufacturer Jaguar's top-of-the-range saloon car for a decade, from 1961 to 1970. The large, luxurious Mark X succeeded the Mark IX as the company's top s ...

charged down the arcade, scattering pedestrians, and six masked men leapt out, smashed the windows of the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Association shop, and stole jewellery valued at £35,000. They were never caught. Gates were installed to prevent this happening again. In 2010, Thor Equities and Meyer Bergman acquired the property for £104 million. The owners hired architect Michael Blair to restore the arcade. In May 2018, the property was sold to

David and Simon Reuben David Reuben (born 1941) and Simon Reuben (born 1944) are Indian-born British businessmen. In May 2020, they were named as the second richest family in the UK by the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' with a net worth of £16 billion. Early life and ...

for £300 million.

References

{{Shopping centres in London 1819 establishments in England Art Nouveau architecture in London Art Nouveau retail buildings Buildings and structures in Mayfair Buildings and structures on Piccadilly Burlington Estate Commercial buildings completed in 1819 Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster Georgian architecture in London Shopping arcades in England Shopping malls established in 1819 Shopping centres in the City of Westminster Tourist attractions in the City of Westminster

Historical events

See also

References