Retail buildings vary dramatically by the era in which they were constructed. Their forms are a result of the development pressures, building technologies and the architectural styles of the day. Little similarity exists between the forms of the nineteenth-century mainstreet store, the 1960s strip plaza and today’s big box outlets. They are united, however, in their attempt to attract as many customers as possible, each having highly visible facades and selling spaces to maximize customer satisfaction.
Throughout the history of London, retail buildings were typically more substantial than the other building types in the city. In its earliest stages of
FIGURE 4.13 The area of retail building footprints plotted against the distance from the peak value intersection.
Source: City of London Planning Department 2004
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 Area (m 2) Distance (m)
FIGURE 4.14 The frequency of retail buildings by size of their footprint.
Source: City of London Planning Department 2004
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 0-99 100-500 501-1000 1001-5000 5001-9999 >10 000 Frequency Building Footprint(m2)
FIGURE 4.15 The building coverage on the lot plotted against the distance of the lot from the core.
Source: City of London Planning Department 2004
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 Building Coverage (%) Distance (m)
development, when London was still a frontier settlement, the city’s shops were among its most prominent structures. The average value of the merchant shops was triple that of the other buildings as recorded in the 1844 assessment. Unfortunately the records do not indicate the height or construction materials of the shops, but they do for the other properties. The buildings with the highest assessment were all two stories and of brick construction. Thus we can assume that these early retail shops were at least two stories high and built more substantially than the typical structure, probably of brick.
Most of these earliest retail buildings do not survive, having been replaced by a rash of new construction in the mid to late-nineteenth century. Many of these buildings remain today in the landscape of the central retail district. The buildings found along mainstreet are characterized by tall and narrow structures (Figure 4.16a). Most are typically three or four stories in height, but are only a few metres wide. They are built adjacent to each other; their high densities maximize the limited space available. The buildings on mainstreet formed continuous
streetscapes with few gaps or empty spaces. Their facades were highly ornamented, with cornices, patterns created in the brickwork, signs and stained glass among other stylized features. The purpose of this festooning was to draw attention to the outlet, and signal the quality of the goods which were available inside.
The most elaborate retail buildings date from the mid to late-nineteenth century and are found along the traditional mainstreet. It was during the streetcar era that the best retail outlets were found in the core. As such, the mainstreet retailers had the resources to construct the grandest buildings, and apply liberal ornamentation to their surfaces. Demand for these locations caused the outlets to grow taller and at high densities. The resulting continuous and imposing
streetscape in the central retail deistic remains a defining part of the built environment in many urban areas.
Moving away from mainstreet one still finds high development densities in the traditional retail corridors; however, the buildings are shorter, one or two stories tall, and gaps are present within the streetscape. The development pressures were less in these areas than in the core, reducing the need to create large buildings and
continuous streetscapes. Building ornamentation also becomes noticeably less flamboyant, many having simply adorned facades. The shopkeepers in these areas did not have the resources to invest as heavily in the creation of extravagant buildings. It was also less necessary to stand out from the other shops since these areas were less competitive retail districts. Fashion was less important in these areas where customers shopped for convenience goods closer to home.
The planned shopping centres of the post-World War II era take on a much different character. Their massing is generally long and low, seldom more than two stories in height and usually only one story (Figure 4.16b). The stores are grouped into long and narrow buildings. Although there is no setback between the individual stores in each of the buildings, the structures themselves are built with large
amounts of space between each other and the lot boundaries. Ornamentation is kept to a minimum, with many having just bare concrete or galvanized steel facing as their materials. Signage is larger, being visible from the automobile at high speeds. Although ornamentation has been making a return in post-modern design
vocabulary, it is usually applied with less detail. The arches and towers which some of the shopping centres now incorporate are meant to be viewed at a distance from the fast-moving automobile rather than the fine details observed on traditional facades applied to draw the eye of the pedestrian.
A)
Traditional retail building forms
B)
Post-war planned shopping centre
FIGURE 4.16 Representations of buildings (not to scale) in A) traditional retail districts and B) modern planned shopping centres.