Q2928520

Burlington Arcade is a covered shopping arcade in the City of Westminster, England, United Kingdom. It is 196 yards (179 m) long, parallel to and east of Bond Street from Piccadilly to Burlington Gardens. It is a precursor to the mid-19th-century European shopping gallery and the world's first modern shopping mall. It is near the similar Piccadilly Arcade. The arcade was built in 1818 to the order of George Cavendish, 1st Earl of Burlington, on what had been the side garden of the adjacent Burlington House. His older brother, William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, who had inherited of the house, was reputed to prevent passers-by throwing oyster shells and other rubbish over the wall of his home. Architect Samuel Ware designed it. Burlington Arcade was built "for the sale of jewellery and fancy articles of fashionable demand, for the gratification of the public." However, it was also said to have been built so the Lord's wife could shop safely amongst other genteel ladies and gentlemen away from London's busy, dirty, and crime-ridden open streets. Burlington Arcade opened on 20 March 1819. From the outset, it positioned itself as an elegant and exclusive upmarket shopping venue, with shops offering luxury goods. It was one of London's earliest covered shopping arcades and one of several such arcades constructed in Western Europe in the early 19th century. (Other examples of grand shopping arcades include Covered passages of Paris, Palais Royal in Paris (opened in 1784); Passage de Feydeau in Paris (opened in 1791), Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels and The Passage in St. Petersburg, the Galleria Umberto I in Naples, and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan (1878).) The original arcade consisted of a single straight top-lit walkway lined with 72 small two-storey units. Some units have been combined, reducing the number of shops to around 40. The Piccadilly façade, with sculptures carved by Benjamin Clemens, a professor of sculpture at the Royal…