Liberty's
This is the instantly recognisable Liberty department store in London’s West End with its mock Tudor frontage.The store was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty,who was born in 1843. His father was a draper, and he initially followed in his father’s footsteps, but soon took job in a Regent Street woman’s fashion shop and quickly moved up the ranks. After a decade of working for somebody else he decided to open up his own store which he did in 1875 employing just three people. He specialised in ornaments, fabrics and objects d’art from the Far East that captured the attention of London, already in the crux of orientalist fervour.
Very soon, Liberty became one of the most fashionable shopping destinations in London.
But Liberty never saw this building, it was built in 1924, seven years after Liberty had died. As you can see there is a lot of timber in this mock Tudor building. It was constructed with the timbers of two ships — the HMS Hindustan and HMS Impregnable. HMS Hindostan was an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 August 1841. She ceased front-line service in 1865 and was sold for breaking up in 1921. Apparently the store frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the Hindustan.
HMS Impregnable was built as a 121-gun screw first-rate ship of the line and originally named Howe after Admiral Richard Howe. She and her sister ship Victoria were the first and only British three-decker ships of the line to be designed from the start for screw propulsion. But in fact she was never completed for sea service and never served under her original name. This was because the first ironclad battleships were appearing that made unarmoured two- and three-deckers obsolete. She was used as a training ship and was sold for breaking up, also in 1921.
Liberty's
This is the instantly recognisable Liberty department store in London’s West End with its mock Tudor frontage.The store was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty,who was born in 1843. His father was a draper, and he initially followed in his father’s footsteps, but soon took job in a Regent Street woman’s fashion shop and quickly moved up the ranks. After a decade of working for somebody else he decided to open up his own store which he did in 1875 employing just three people. He specialised in ornaments, fabrics and objects d’art from the Far East that captured the attention of London, already in the crux of orientalist fervour.
Very soon, Liberty became one of the most fashionable shopping destinations in London.
But Liberty never saw this building, it was built in 1924, seven years after Liberty had died. As you can see there is a lot of timber in this mock Tudor building. It was constructed with the timbers of two ships — the HMS Hindustan and HMS Impregnable. HMS Hindostan was an 80-gun two-deck second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 August 1841. She ceased front-line service in 1865 and was sold for breaking up in 1921. Apparently the store frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the Hindustan.
HMS Impregnable was built as a 121-gun screw first-rate ship of the line and originally named Howe after Admiral Richard Howe. She and her sister ship Victoria were the first and only British three-decker ships of the line to be designed from the start for screw propulsion. But in fact she was never completed for sea service and never served under her original name. This was because the first ironclad battleships were appearing that made unarmoured two- and three-deckers obsolete. She was used as a training ship and was sold for breaking up, also in 1921.