William Whiteley Ltd., the Universal Providers, Queen's Rd, London - advert, c1912
A wonderful advert for what was one of London's great departmental stores in its day - seen here in c1912 when this wonderful building on Queen's Road in Bayswater had just opened following a huge reconstruction of the store. The building is in the news again this week as it is due to be gutted (again) and redeveloped, mostly as housing rather than retail. This grand building was designed by architects Belcher & Joass and the exterior is Listed, the interior having been gutted during remodelling in the late 1980s. Whiteley's was founded by William Whiteley (1831 - 1907) a self-made Yorkshire man whose private philandering, despite his public persona of respectable benefactor, caught up with him. In January 1907 he was shot dead in the store by a man claiming to be his illegitimate son. The company continued until bought out by UDS in the 1960s and with trade withering away the store closed in 1981. The company was known as the 'Universal Provider' in that it prided itself on being able to supply almost every requirement - "from a pin to an elephant" it is said!
William Whiteley Ltd., the Universal Providers, Queen's Rd, London - advert, c1912
A wonderful advert for what was one of London's great departmental stores in its day - seen here in c1912 when this wonderful building on Queen's Road in Bayswater had just opened following a huge reconstruction of the store. The building is in the news again this week as it is due to be gutted (again) and redeveloped, mostly as housing rather than retail. This grand building was designed by architects Belcher & Joass and the exterior is Listed, the interior having been gutted during remodelling in the late 1980s. Whiteley's was founded by William Whiteley (1831 - 1907) a self-made Yorkshire man whose private philandering, despite his public persona of respectable benefactor, caught up with him. In January 1907 he was shot dead in the store by a man claiming to be his illegitimate son. The company continued until bought out by UDS in the 1960s and with trade withering away the store closed in 1981. The company was known as the 'Universal Provider' in that it prided itself on being able to supply almost every requirement - "from a pin to an elephant" it is said!