Display Cabinet For Cartier Fine Jewellry

Famed Swiss hotelier César Ritz opened the hotel on May 24, 1906. The building is neoclassical in the Louis XVI manner, built during the Belle Époque to resemble a stylish Parisian block of flats, over arcades that consciously evoked the Rue de Rivoli. Its architects were Charles Mewès, who had previously designed Ritz's Hôtel Ritz Paris, and Arthur Davis, with engineering collaboration by the Swedish engineer Sven Bylander. It was the first substantial steel-frame structure in London.

Ritz personally managed much of the hotel's operation for many years. He hired world-famous chef Auguste Escoffier to provide cuisine to match the opulence of the hotel's decorations; he placed a special bell in the entryway by which the doorman could notify the staff of the impending arrival of royalty. The high standards to which he held his staff and the ultimate luxury which he provided his guests had been entirely foreign to Victorian Londoners, and the sensation he caused in the hotel industry precipitated a dramatic shift in that industry's focus.

The hotel was owned for some time by the Bracewell-Smith family who also had significant stakes in the nearby Park Lane Hotel. However the oil crisis in the early 1970s affected business and prompted the family to sell their stake to Trafalgar House in 1976 for £2.75m.

David and Frederick Barclay purchased the ailing hotel for £80 Million from Trafalgar House, in October 1995, through their company Ellerman Investments. They spent eight years and £40 Million restoring it to its former grandeur.

The Ritz Wikipedia Entry

The Ritz  

Hamleys is named after William Hamley, who founded a toy shop called "Noah's Ark" at High Holborn in London in 1760. A branch in Regent Street was opened in 1881, and the Holborn branch was destroyed by fire in 1901 and was relocated from 231 to 86–87 High Holborn. The business has survived in various forms to the present day, and at one time was the largest toy shop in the world. Hamleys moved to its current Regent Street premises in 1981.

The store is considered one of London's major tourist attractions, and receives about five million visitors a year. 

Hamleys Wikipedia Entry

Hamleys 

The atrimn walls of the main public area were built by Aagaard Hanley to a hieght of 13m and finished with a specialy formulated plaster to match the external pre-cast panals clading the 32 floors of Bridgewater Place.

The development has been designed by Aedas Architects with the developer being Landmark Development Projects and St James Securities with Bovis Lend Lease being the contractor. The developer of the residential element of Bridgewater Place is KW Linfoot.

It was first announced in 2000 and, following several redesigns and delays with the construction process, construction of the building began in 2004 and was completed in 2007. It became the tallest building in Leeds, by a significant margin, and Yorkshire (although this does not take into account structures such as Emley Moor). Bridgewater Place has a height of 110 metres or 360 feet to roof level. Originally the tower was to have had a spire which would have extended the height of the building to 137 metres or 449 feet, however this was never built for unknown reasons.

Bridgewater Place has 32 storeys, of which two are used for car parking, ten for offices and twenty for residential purposes. There will be 40,000 square metres / 430,560 square feet of floor space in the building and there will be 200 flats and 400 car parking spaces. Office tenants will include Eversheds and Ernst & Young.

The atrium of Bridgewater Place will host the 17.5 metre column sculpture by artists Bryan Davies and Laura Davies of Artist House Studio, which will be the tallest sculpture in Yorkshire. Created as a reinterpretation of Constantin Brancusi's Endless Coumn from Târgu Jiu, Romania 50 years after the artist death, it will house illuminated photographs showing a science fiction narrative.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bridgewater Place

Harewood House, magnificent Yorkshire home of the Earl and Countess of Harewood, designed by John Carr and completed in 1772 with exquisite interiors by Robert Adam.

Collections include English 18th Century and Italian Renaissance masterpieces, Chippendale furniture, fine porcelain, Royal photographs/memorabilia of Lord Harewood's mother HRH the Princess Mary, the Princess Royal. A new permanent exhibition 'Below Stairs: Harewood's Hidden Collections' explores the lives and stories of those who contributed to the daily running of this large country house.

Harewood House - Official Site

Harewood House - Wikipedia

Harewood House - Information Britain