Ink and wash on paper, c.1895
William Hamilton Beattie (1842-1898)
RCAHMS
Jenners Department Store began operating at its present location on Princes Street, Edinburgh in 1838. However, a fire in 1892 destroyed the first building. This drawing shows the new structure which opened in 1895 to a design by the architect William Hamilton Beattie.
The new department store and warehouse were constructed to create ‘the world’s only fireproof building’. As an additional precaution, the shop was arranged in a series of discrete but connecting areas, creating the warren with which today’s shoppers are familiar. Technical innovations in the new building also included electric lighting and hydraulic lifts.
Jenners Department Store, Princes Street, Edinburgh
Black and white photographs, c.1900
Harry Bedford Lemere (1864-1944)
RCAHMS: Bedford Lemere Collection
These interior views of Jenners Department Store, show the sales floor for gloves and laces, and also the women's fashion department, as they would have appeared at the turn of the twentieth century. Customers would have perched on one of the wooden seats whilst shown the range of goods housed in the drawers behind the counters.
Both images were taken by the photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere. Bedford Lemere and Co was founded in London during the late 1860s as a specialist architectural photography firm and became well known for the exceptional quality of its work.