The Corridor

The Corridor
Location: , Somerset, England
Coordinates:
Built: 1825
Architect: Henry Goodridge
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name: The Corridor
Designated: 12 June, 1950[1]
Reference #: 442459
Location of The Corridor in Somerset

The Corridor is one of the world's earliest retail arcades, designed by architect Henry Goodridge and built in 1825, in Bath, Somerset, England.

The fashion for arranging shops in arcades arose in Paris in the late 18th Century. The Corridor followed the trend set by London's Burlington Arcade.

The Grade II listed arcade has a glass roof. The High Street end has a Doric colonnade. Each end has marble columns.[1]

A musicians gallery, with a wrought iron balustrade and gilt lions heads and garlands, is in the centre of the arcade.[2]

Number 7 was the photographic studio of William Friese-Greene.[2]

Bombing

On Wednesday 18 December, 1974 a telephone warning alerted police in Bath that a bomb was shortly to explode in The Corridor. The subsequent blast from a 5lb bomb planted by the IRA[3] caused huge damage and forced the Corridor to undergo a major renovation programme.

References

  1. ^ a b "The Corridor". Images of England. English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=442459. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
  2. ^ a b Haddon, John (1982). Portrait of Bath. London: Robert Hale Ltd. pp. 57. ISBN 0709198833. 
  3. ^ "The Corridor in Bath". http://www.cityofbath.co.uk/history/body_henry_edmund_goodridge.html. Retrieved 2010-10-15.