An Age of Confidence

Photographs by Bedford Lemere & Co 

27 January 2012 - 7 May 2012

Free admission

For half a century the London firm of Bedford Lemere & Co was
the leading architectural photography company in England. After
London, Merseyside was the firm's second-most photographed
location. Their photographs captured an age of confidence when
prosperity and civic pride gave rise to a wave of new buildings
across the region.

This exhibition shows prints and objects from the Bedford Lemere
& Co Collection held by English Heritage. Most of the photographs
have been made from the original glass plate negatives. The
exceptional quality of the negatives means that it is possible to
produce prints today that are as stunning as the day they were taken.

A wide range of Liverpool and Wirral places and people are featured, including Cammell Laird, the Adelphi Hotel and Port Sunlight Village.

Highlights include:

• The resident orchestra at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool (1914).
• Bidston Court, Vyner Road South, Wirral (1894): A group of smartly-dressed people in a horse-drawn coach outside a half-timbered mansion.
• Trading Hall, Liverpool Cotton Exchange, Old Hall Street, Liverpool, (1907).
• The Arcade, 81- 89 Lord Street, Liverpool (1901): Designed by architect Walter Aubrey Thomas who also designed the Royal Liver Building.
• 53-63 Church Street, Liverpool, including the Bon Marché department store (1891).
• White star liner Olympic - sister of Titanic - looking aft (1920).

Exhibition developed in collaboration with English Heritage.