John Lewis at Westgate
Westgate Oxford (formerly the Westgate Centre) is a major shopping centre in Oxford city centre, England, that was extensively remodelled and extended between 2016 and 2017.
The Westgate Shopping Centre opened in 1972, and was originally owned by Oxford City Council. The centre included branches of Selfridges, Sainsbury's and C&A. The central library was also moved to the centre from the Town Hall, being opened by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on 31 October 1973. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited in 1976.
The centre was sold in the 1980s to private owners; in 1986, they refurbished it, at a cost of £3 million. Two years later, an early proposal was made to extend the centre by its then owners. Plans for the redevelopment of the Westgate area were originally published in 2004. The new centre has almost 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of retail, restaurant and leisure space including a new John Lewis, a rooftop dining terrace with views across Oxford's skyline, and a five screen Curzon Cinema. According to Oxford City Council, "the £500 million redevelopment of the Westgate Centre is a key part of the regeneration of Oxford city centre, creating high quality buildings designed by world-class architects and providing more than 3,400 new full-time equivalent jobs." The new centre reopened on 24 October 2017.
At the heart of Oxford’s new Westgate Shopping Centre is John Lewis & Partners offering three floors of fashion, beauty, home, giftware, technology and electrical items.
With 50 John Lewis shops across the UK, the arrival of John Lewis & Partners and the new Westgate Shopping Centre has given Oxford a significant retail boost for the benefit of both visitors and residents. John Lewis stocks around 350,000 separate lines in its department store and online at johnlewis.com across fashion, home and technology.
John Lewis & Partners (formerly and commonly known as John Lewis) is a brand of high-end department stores operating throughout Great Britain, with concessions also located in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. The brand sells general merchandise as part of the employee-owned mutual organisation known as the John Lewis Partnership, the largest co-operative in the United Kingdom. It was created by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis, in 1929. The chain has promised since 1925 that it is "never knowingly undersold" – it will always at least match a lower price offered by a national high street competitor.
The colouful sculpture is call 'Homage to Doctor Mirabilis' and is a site-specific free-standing sculpture, commissioned for Westgate Oxford’s Leiden Square. Fabricated from stainless steel and neon, the sculpture creates an important focal point and meeting place on the edge of the largest covered square within Westgate.
Doctor Mirabilis was the nickname given to the 13th century philosopher and Franciscan friar Roger Bacon, who lived and studied for some years in the city, and is buried here. The statue of Bacon in Oxford’s Museum of Natural History shows him holding an astrolabe - a device for studying the movement of celestial bodies – and which the artist has re-imagined in this sculpture.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate,_Oxford
oxfordcity.co.uk/shopping/john-lewis-and-partners/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_%26_Partners
www.modusoperandi-art.com/projects/westgate_oxford_homage...
John Lewis at Westgate
Westgate Oxford (formerly the Westgate Centre) is a major shopping centre in Oxford city centre, England, that was extensively remodelled and extended between 2016 and 2017.
The Westgate Shopping Centre opened in 1972, and was originally owned by Oxford City Council. The centre included branches of Selfridges, Sainsbury's and C&A. The central library was also moved to the centre from the Town Hall, being opened by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on 31 October 1973. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited in 1976.
The centre was sold in the 1980s to private owners; in 1986, they refurbished it, at a cost of £3 million. Two years later, an early proposal was made to extend the centre by its then owners. Plans for the redevelopment of the Westgate area were originally published in 2004. The new centre has almost 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of retail, restaurant and leisure space including a new John Lewis, a rooftop dining terrace with views across Oxford's skyline, and a five screen Curzon Cinema. According to Oxford City Council, "the £500 million redevelopment of the Westgate Centre is a key part of the regeneration of Oxford city centre, creating high quality buildings designed by world-class architects and providing more than 3,400 new full-time equivalent jobs." The new centre reopened on 24 October 2017.
At the heart of Oxford’s new Westgate Shopping Centre is John Lewis & Partners offering three floors of fashion, beauty, home, giftware, technology and electrical items.
With 50 John Lewis shops across the UK, the arrival of John Lewis & Partners and the new Westgate Shopping Centre has given Oxford a significant retail boost for the benefit of both visitors and residents. John Lewis stocks around 350,000 separate lines in its department store and online at johnlewis.com across fashion, home and technology.
John Lewis & Partners (formerly and commonly known as John Lewis) is a brand of high-end department stores operating throughout Great Britain, with concessions also located in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. The brand sells general merchandise as part of the employee-owned mutual organisation known as the John Lewis Partnership, the largest co-operative in the United Kingdom. It was created by Spedan Lewis, son of the founder, John Lewis, in 1929. The chain has promised since 1925 that it is "never knowingly undersold" – it will always at least match a lower price offered by a national high street competitor.
The colouful sculpture is call 'Homage to Doctor Mirabilis' and is a site-specific free-standing sculpture, commissioned for Westgate Oxford’s Leiden Square. Fabricated from stainless steel and neon, the sculpture creates an important focal point and meeting place on the edge of the largest covered square within Westgate.
Doctor Mirabilis was the nickname given to the 13th century philosopher and Franciscan friar Roger Bacon, who lived and studied for some years in the city, and is buried here. The statue of Bacon in Oxford’s Museum of Natural History shows him holding an astrolabe - a device for studying the movement of celestial bodies – and which the artist has re-imagined in this sculpture.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate,_Oxford
oxfordcity.co.uk/shopping/john-lewis-and-partners/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_%26_Partners
www.modusoperandi-art.com/projects/westgate_oxford_homage...