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IN THE NEWS
TOUR OF THE MONTH
ON THIS DAY IN LONDON
14th August 1948 The first Summer Olympics to be held since 1936, were closed in London.
14th August 1941 Josef Jakobs, German spy, executed in Tower of London
14th August 1903 Born today: Ronald Stewart, CEO (London Brick Co)
14th August 1867 Forsyte Saga author John Galsworthy was born in Kingston Upon Thames.
14th August 1802 Poet and novelist Letitia Elizabeth Landon (LEL) was born in Chelsea, London.
Maple House
Once the Largest Furniture Shop in the World was based here.
Location: 149 Tottenham Court Road
Description: Now a retail and apartment complex on the east side of Tottenham Court Road, close to the junction with Euston Road, is where Maples Furniture Store used to be. Today it's a supermarket and computer store.
Sir John Blundell Maple (1845-1903) was a self-made, and perhaps the most successful of all Victorian retail entrepreneurs. He achieved great wealth, became a politician, a horserace breeder and a member of the Prince of Wales's set. His emporium here in London's Tottenham Court Road furnished everyone who was anyone in Victorian society and was better known as The Largest Furniture Shop in the World.
Maples manufactured their own luxury furniture in a complex eventually so vast that by the 1880s it occupied an area where once stood 200 houses. They were timber importers, and exporters of furniture and fittings to all parts of the world. They used steam power and electricity, had a fleet of horse-drawn vans, depository and showrooms, and employed a vast workforce.
Maples furnished palaces all over the world, including Tsar Nicholas's Winter Palace, the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna, all the great hotels, and town and country homes.
Prestigious British embassies were all furnished by Maples.
In 1997 the store was declared bankrupt and was taken over by the retailer Allders.
Madness lead singer Suggs grew up in a nice flat above Maple's on the corner with Grafton Way.
Ranking This Month: 2004/2778
Pages Hit This Month: 23
Link to This Page: http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location/2517
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Once the Largest Furniture Shop in the World was based here. |
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Mrs Salmon's Waxworks», 1.2km
Good Gifts in a Tree», 1.2km
Oldest Shopfront in London», 2.5km
Treadwell's Bookshop», 0.2km
The first Waitrose», 6.0km
Jigsaw and Kate Middleton», 0.6km
The Camden Markets», 1.2km
R. Soles of London», 2.7km
Facts on Selfridges», 0.4km
The Shop the Looters Ignored », 4.5km
mapping London's most interesting and unusual places and history
