One wonderful thing about London is the many arcades. The shopping arcade is, as you might guess from the name, a series of arches, roofed, with shops in the spaces between the arches. In many ways, they were the first shopping malls, providing covered spaces for upscale merchants to appeal to the monied classes. Here are some of my favorites. They are glorious looking spaces. We'll start with the more obscure Albermarle Arcade:

Another arcade, off Piccadilly:

And, finally, the Burlington Arcade front facade:

And a close up:

These were the height of fashion when they were built. The first shopping malls in London!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 11:06 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Beautiful. Thanks.

Posted by: Angie at May 03, 2005 06:49 PM (FlWAT)

2 The orange makes me giddy! Beautiful photos. I can never shop at Rockingham Mall again, let alone that dreadful clump of concrete boxes in Newington, NH. I wish there were more beautiful public buildings here.

Posted by: Amy at May 04, 2005 08:59 AM (nUCsP)

3 Yes, why is architecture so.... ugh! these days, er.. years? More stone! More marble! More sculpture! Quaint coloring! Architects want to look cutting edge; futuristic. Funk that!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at May 04, 2005 11:21 PM (CsMXV)

4 RP - Do you know about this? http://www.pinholeday.org/org/

Posted by: Mark at May 07, 2005 11:07 PM (xccFI)

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