|
Corn Exchange, St Albans
The Corn Exchange is a retail building in the Market Place, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The structure, which is now used to accommodate a pair of shops, is a locally listed building. History The corn exchange was commissioned to replace an open-sided market hall, in the middle of the Market Place, just to the south of the Clock Tower, St Albans, Clock Tower, which dated back to around 1596. By the mid-19th century it had become dilapidated and the local merchants wanted a new structure. The site council officials selected was on the east side of the Market Place, close to the location of the St Albans Market, market's medieval Wheat Cheping. The new building was the subject of a design competition, held in 1854, which was won by James Murray, who later established the firm of E. W. Pugin, Pugin & Murray in London. It was designed in the Italianate architecture, Italianate style "with details partaking of the Romanesque", built by Joseph Briggs in buff brick with stone dre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman Britain, Roman road of Watling Street for travellers heading north and became the city of Verulamium. It is within the London commuter belt and the Greater London Built-up Area. Name St Albans takes its name from the first British saint, Saint Alban, Alban. The most elaborate version of his story, in Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'', relates that he lived in Verulamium, sometime during the 3rd or 4th century, when Christians were suffering persecution. Alban met a Christian priest fleeing from his persecutors and sheltered him in his house, where he became so impressed with the priest's piety that he converted to Christianity. When the authorities searched Alban's house, he put on the priest's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex (geometry), apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a Vault (architecture), vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch or vault to bear weight. In arches and vaults (such as quasi-domes) keystones are often enlarged beyond the structural requirements and decorated. A variant in domes and crowning vaults is a lantern (architecture), lantern. A portion of the arch surrounding the keystone is called a Crown (arch), crown. Keystones or their suggested form are sometimes placed for decorative effect in the centre of the flat top of doors, recesses and windows, so as to form an upward projection of a lintel, as a hallmark of strength or good architecture. Although a masonry arch or vault cannot be self-supporting until the keystone is placed, the keystone experiences the least stress of any of the voussoirs, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corn Exchanges In England
Corn exchanges are distinct buildings which were originally created as a venue for corn merchants to meet and arrange pricing with farmers for the sale of wheat, barley, and other corn crops. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley. With the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, a large number of corn exchanges were built in England, particularly in the corn-growing areas of Eastern England. However, with the fall in price of English corn as a result of cheap imports, corn exchanges mostly ceased to be built after the 1870s. Increasingly they were put to other uses, particularly as meeting and concert halls. Many found a new lease of life in the early 20th century as cinemas. Following the Second World War, many could not be maintained, and they were demolished. In the 1970s their architectural importance came to be appreciated, and most of the surviving examples are listed buildings. Most of the surviving corn exchanges have now been res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reiss (brand)
Reiss ( ) is an English fashion brand and retail store chain. The brand produces men's and women's clothing. It has 160 stores in 15 countries. Reiss was founded by David Reiss in 1971. Its first store in London's Bishopsgate sold men's suits. It began to sell women's clothes from 2000. The Reiss flagship store and headquarters in London, designed by Squire and Partners, has won several awards including the RIBA Award, the BCO Award and the Civic Trust Award. The brand was named Fashion Retailer of the Year in 2003 at the British Style Awards. Reiss has seen a significant increase in the number of its stores to 160 outlets worldwide, including key stores in Heathrow Terminal 5 and Westfield London as well as over four dozen locations across the United States as of 2022. Reiss intends to eventually grow to 250 stores worldwide. In April 2016, a 51% majority stake was sold to the American private equity firm Warburg Pincus for £230 million. In June 2021, British clothing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lintel
A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case of windows, the bottom span is referred to as a sill, but, unlike a lintel, does not serve to bear a load to ensure the integrity of the wall. Modern-day lintels may be made using prestressed concrete and are also referred to as beams in beam-and-block slabs or as ribs in rib-and-block slabs. These prestressed concrete lintels and blocks can serve as components that are packed together and propped to form a suspended-floor concrete slab. An arch functions as a curved lintel. Structural uses In worldwide architecture of different eras and many cultures, a lintel has been an element of post and lintel construction. Many different building materials have been used for lintels. In classical Western architecture and construction methods ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonette
A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a Beam (structure), beam or lintel. Colonnettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and Grandfather clock, case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ceramics. Architectural colonnettes are typically found in "a group in a parapet, balustrade, or Compound pier, cluster pier". The term columnette has also been used to refer to thin columns. In Khmer art, the colonnette designates in particular the columns which frame the doors of the sanctuaries and which are one of the dating elements of their style. Summits of complexity were attained in the development of the Khmer colonnette, according to Philippe Stern: Etymology The -''ette'' suffix, from French language, is a diminutive, which can also have a condescending connotation: in our case, it shifts the meaning from column to small column or fake columns. In the field of Angkorian archeology, Edme Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Kitchens
National Kitchens were restaurants established in a British Government initiative during the First World War to feed people cheaply and economically, at a time when food supplies were scarce because of the German U-boat campaign. History Before the outbreak of war in 1914, the United Kingdom relied on imported food to feed the population; as much as 60 percent of food stocks had come from abroad. In wartime, the increased costs of shipping together with a complete lack of any government controls led to a rapid rise in the price of food, especially meat and bread. In addition, the Imperial German Navy had launched an unrestricted submarine blockade; in April 1917, a record 550,000 tons of shipping had been sunk. During the first years of the war, voluntary organisations began to open "communal kitchens" in various parts of the country. However, their public image was dreadful and only the poorest people made use of them. One government official stated: "It was thought that Public K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belgian Refugees In Britain During The First World War
During the First World War between 1914 and 1918, many Belgian refugees fled to the United Kingdom. Because archive material of the hundreds of local Belgian refugee committees is scant and incomplete and because systems of registration were not watertight (nor did they run from the very start of the conflict), it is very difficult to estimate the number of Belgians that sought refuge in Britain during World War I. Estimates vary between 225,000 and 265,000. The estimation does not include the roughly 150,000 Belgian soldiers that took leave in Britain at some point during the war, and an additional 25,000 wounded Belgian soldiers convalescing in Britain. The fullest account is given in ''Belgian Refugee Relief in England during the Great War'' by Peter Calahan (Garland Publishing, New York and London, 1982). Locations * Millfield House on Silver Street in Edmonton, North London, is first mentioned in 1796 when it belonged to John Wigston of Trent Park. Later that year it was le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
