Plaque

Harry Selfridge plaque

Inscription

Harry Gordon Selfridge, 1858 - 1947, department store magnate, lived here, 1921 - 1929.
English Heritage

Site: Petty & Selfridge at the Lansdowne Club (2 memorials)

W1, Fitzmaurice Place, 9

Built as Lansdowne House in 1763, designed by Robert Adam, later altered by George Dance the Younger and then by Robert Smirke, and then by T. H. Wyatt.  Harry Selfridge took over the lease in 1921.  In the 1930s it was remodelled by Charles Fox for use as a private club and the front of the house was removed to enable the creation of Fitzmaurice Place. The First Drawing Room was re-erected in the Museum of Arts in Philadelphia and the Dining Room in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The building (what's left of it) was restored in 2000.

The wide passageway opposite this house, now lined with shops and restaurants and known as Lansdowne Row, was once a narrow alley with high walls on either side, separating the grounds of Lansdowne House from those of Devonshire House. It was owned by Lord Lansdowne but open to the public. Once a year he had the doors at each end locked so as to prevent it becoming a legal right of way. Amazon have an excellent 1926 photo. Shutterstock have a 1951 photo but by this date the passageway is already barely recognisable.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Harry Selfridge plaque

Subjects commemorated i

Harry Selfridge

Born Wisconsin. Too small to join the navy he became a clerk in a department ...

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Harry Selfridge plaque

Created by i

English Heritage

English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that ma...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Harry Selfridge plaque

Also at this site i

William Petty

William Petty

English Heritage William Petty, Earl of Shelburne, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Ricardo Street School air raid - AFS plaque

Ricardo Street School air raid - AFS plaque

E14, Kerbey Street, Lansbury Lawrence Primary School

We can't find an image of the school that was bombed. An early school appears on this 1895 map, occupying the northern part of the site, ...

Civilian war dead | WW2
8 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Charles Bristow

Charles Bristow

SW15, Embankment, Imperial College Boat Club

"Charles Bristow : he built it" To the memory of Charles Alfred Bristow, 1896 - 1985, Founder-President and for over 50 years, coach and ...

2 subjects commemorated
Maggie's Corner

Maggie's Corner

NW3, Hampstead High Street

This is an excellent example of how even modern plaques can be very pretty. The flower seller on our visit very kindly adjusted the awnin...

1 subject commemorated, 2 creators
Dame Ida Mann

Dame Ida Mann

NW2, Minster Road, 13

This house is on the corner of the street in which Ida Mann was born, Fordwych Road, number 67. She lived in Minster Road aged 9 - 41.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
The Triffids

The Triffids

EC1, Britton Street, 27

The Triffids recorded their classic album Born Sandy Devotional on this site in August 1985. "It's a Wide Open Road" thetriffids.com

1 subject commemorated