Romance of a Shop

Regent’s Park

~ Heather Ryan

Regent’s Park is the home of the Lord Watergate. Gertrude Lorimer first goes to this location and makes the acquaintance of Watergate when she is called on for one of her first commissions: the photographing of the recently deceased Lady Watergate. As their title indicates, this was an area of wealth and high society. This can also be gleaned from the Charles Booth archive.

regentspark

The strip of color abutting the park is almost entirely yellow and red, indicators of middle- upper middle- and upper class homes. The Watergates at nearby Sussex Place certainly count among their numbers. But Lord Watergate is unique from the rest of the wealthy crowd by virtue of his interests.

Watergate is a man of science, particularly interested in biology and physiology. Though not passionate in his actions, he is, like Gertrude, passionate in his work. On page 85 Amy Levy describes Watergate’s home as “a name so well known in the scientific and literary world.” But the Lorimers “had, however, little personal acquaintance with distinguished people, and had never come across the learned and courteous peer in his social capacity.”

This would change by the end of the novel as Gertrude marries Lord Watergate and Regent’s Park becomes her home as well, adding the artistic world of photography to the “scientific” and the “literary.” While before the area surrounding Regent’s Park seems out of the Lorimers’ reach, their relationship with it changes from an austere house with a dead body to one of a home and family. It is here that Gertrude Lorimer gains the life that she was meant to live before her father passed away. She is married to a peer and living in a fashionable area but still seriously pursuing her interests in both photography and literature. Regent’s Park becomes the place where, to use the modern terminology, she can have it all.

Booth, Charles. “Baker Street Station.” Charles Booth Online Archive. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.

Levy, Amy. The Romance of a Shop. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2006. Print.

Gloucester Place

~ Heather Ryan

Gloucester Place is only mentioned once in the novel The Romance of a Shop. On page 75 the Lorimer sisters, Conny, and Mrs. Devonshire travel from their home in South Kensington to the future home and workshop of the girls on Upper Baker Street along Gloucester Place. This street connects the richer, more fashionable regions of London like Sussex place where Lord Watergate lives with the more working-middle-class area where the Lorimers settle.

As can be seen from the Charles Booth poverty map, Gloucester Place was surrounded by people of upper-middle, middle, lower middle, and working class. This was a major change for the Lorimers, accustomed to living around people solely from their upper-middle rank of society.

gloucesterplacecharlesbooth

Gloucester Place acts as an intermediary between the Lorimers old life of comfort and leisure and their new one of work and uncertainty. Walking along the street in the Victorian Era would be like walking through a chart of the socioeconomic levels of London. The sisters could physically see their economic situation changing, slipping down the rungs of society and class, as they walked between the houses on the street, showing drastically different ways of life. It is the road the connects the Lorimers’ old life with their new one.

 

Booth, Charles. “Baker Street Station.” Charles Booth Online Archive. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

Levy, Amy. The Romance of a Shop. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2006. Print.

Charing Cross Station

~ Ashley Schluter

The original station was built on the site of the Hungerford Market by the South Eastern Railway. Opened on  January 11th 1864. The station was designed by Sir John Hawkshaw, with a single span wrought iron roof arching over the six platforms. A large portion of roof collapsed on 5 December 1905 compromising part of the west wall. A bunch of men were employed in repairing, glazing and painting the section of roof which fell. The roof, girders and debris fell across four passenger trains standing in platforms 3, 4, 5 and 6 and all rail lines were blocked. The part of the western wall which fell crashed through the wall and roof of the neighboring Royal Avenue Theater in Northumberland Avenue which was being reconstructed at the time. Six lives were lost.

The Charing Cross Hotel, designed by Edward Middleton Barry, opened on 15 May 1865 and gave the station a frontage of the French Renaissance style.Following bomb damage in the Second World War, the hotel received extensive repairs in 1951. In general, this consisted of a new set of top floors.


Charing Cross Station is at home in a middle class district.
“Charing” comes from the Old English word cierran meaning to turn. This is a fitting place for the turning point in a story. This is also why Amy Levy used this station in her novel.


In Romance Of A Shop by Amy Levy Charing Cross Station is a turning point for phyllis’s health. As she plans to run away to go get married to Darrell she becomes sicker and can’t manage the journey. Charing cross station, although only briefly mentioned represents a larger picture of health and a turning point in the story.  It’s after this point that we find out just how sick Phyllis is. It’s also at this station that Phyllis herself turns around and returns to Darrell’s house.

 

Work Cited
“Booth Poverty Map (Charles Booth Online Archive).” Booth Poverty Map (Charles Booth Online Archive). Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Levy, Amy.The Romance of a Shop. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2006. Print.
“The Charing Cross Hotel by E. M. Barry (1830-80).” The Charing Cross Hotel by E. M. Barry (1830-80). Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
“Victorian London.” Google Books. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
“Victorian London – Transport – Railways, Above Ground – Stations – Charing Cross.” Victorian London – Transport – Railways, Above Ground – Stations – Charing Cross. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

Notting Hill

~ Ashley Schluter ~ 1 Comment

Notting Hill is a district in west London. Since it was first developed in the 1820s, Notting Hill has had an association with artists and artistic culture. It’s an estate in the parish of Kensington, thickly covered with houses built between 1828 and 1848. Notting Hill is a comparatively cheap district for the area. Area’s within Notting Hill contain: Ladbroke Grove, Notting Hill Gate, Portobello Road, Westbourne Grove, and North Kensington. Also home to Pottery Lane which was a popular area for slumming. The mainly owned by the Ladbroke family, and in the 1820s James Weller Ladbroke began to undertake the development of the Ladbroke Estate. Many streets and areas with in Notting Hill hold the Landbroke name. Also home to Ladbroke Square which is a garden.  It is one of the largest private garden squares in London.

A good mix of poor, comfortable, and some well to do in the area. Many of the crimes in the area are theft and highway robbery. Including violent robberies and theft of animals. Nothing really made it seem like that dangerous of an area. The current condition of the area are tacky little houses tightly built on top of each other, many of the original buildings still standing. Now a very popular tourist attraction and a highly sought after living space.

Notting Hill is where Fanny and her husband settle down in Amy Levy’s Romance Of A Shop. The importance of the region is that it is not very much outside of Fanny’s current social status. Although Fanny is happily married she remains without children and in her original social class. Made up of gaudy little houses stacked side by side, Fanny lives in a “hideous little house”, dripping with medicorey. Notting Hill was also a haven for many artistic types, suiting for Fanny, having her photography background.

 

Works cited
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Levy, Amy. The Romance of a Shop. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2006. Print.
“Slums and Slumming in Late-Victorian London.” Slums and Slumming in Late-Victorian London. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
“The Proceedings of the Old Bailey.” Results. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
“Victorian London – Districts – Areas – Notting Hill.” Victorian London – Districts – Areas – Notting Hill. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.

The Romance of a Shop: Royal Academy

~ Shianne

Screen Shot 2015-10-27 at 5.01.01 PMThe Royal Academy of Arts located in Picadilly was founded in 1768 with the intention of cultivating and improving the arts of painting, sculpting, and architecture. The two main objectives of forming the Academy were to create a “well-regulated” school of design and to host an annual exhibition “to all artists of distinguished merit.” The Royal Academy’s active members (which vary in number time-to-time) are split into Academicians, Associates, and Associate Engravers. The Academicians are painters, sculptors, architects, and engravers. There are also Honorary Members, Honorary Retired Members, and Honorary Foreign Academicians. All members “whose work shows sufficient merit are permitted to contribute to its exhibitions” (Victorian Art).

The Royal Academy chooses its members as so: Associates are chosen through election. Those eligible for election are exhibitors, who are chosen by Academicians at the annual meeting at the Academy. The Academicians are chosen from the associates when a spot opens. As the Royal Academy was established through a charter, as a memorial for George III, all elected individuals must be given the signature of the reigning sovereign. Therefore, no individual membership within the Royal Academy is valid unless approved by the monarch (Victorian Art).

Because the Academy is a Royal establishment, it is unsurprising that those who live in its surrounding neighborhoods are either middle or upper class. Unlike many other areas we’ve looked at, there is no lower middle class or poor inhabitants mixed in. This may be why the crime in the area is so low to nonexistant. While searching the Old Bailey, I found no records of crime related to the Royal Academy.

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How does this relate to the story?

In Chapter 9, the first paragraph mentions that Frank “had invited all the people he knew in London to inspect his pictures and Mr. Oakley’s before they were sent in to the Royal Academy” (111). It is the mentioned that Mr. Oakley isn’t necessarily all that talented or sought after, but that his pictures make it into exhibition and are sold. Because both Frank and Mr. Oakley are artists whose work is shown in the Royal Academy exhibition, it is implied that they are very wealthy.

 

Works Cited

“Victorian Art Institutions: Academies, Schools, Galleries.” The Victorian Web. N.p., 20 July 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.