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THE MODERN SHOP: ARCHITECTURE & SHOPPING BETWEEN THE WARS

Selfridges, Oxford Street, London. Robert Atkinson (1869–1923), with Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) and Francis S. Swales (1878–1962), with later work by Sir John Burnet & Partners and Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, 1908–29. Photograph by Sydney W. Newbery, 1929. RIBA Library Photographs Collection

Selfridges, Oxford Street, London. Robert Atkinson (1869–1923), with Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) and Francis S. Swales (1878–1962), with later work by Sir John Burnet & Partners and Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, 1908–29. Photograph by Sydney W. Newbery, 1929. RIBA Library Photographs Collection

Selfridges, Oxford Street, London

Robert Atkinson (1869–1923), with Daniel H. Burnham (1846–1912) and Francis S. Swales (1878–1962), with later work by Sir John Burnet & Partners and Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, 1908–29.

Photograph by Sydney W. Newbery, 1929
RIBA Library Photographs Collection

The Chicago retailer Gordon Selfridge opened his English store in 1909 and extended it westwards in the 1920s, doubling its size. The Americanised classical style denoted commercial confidence, permanence and grandeur. London had seen nothing like it before.