Showrooms after 1918

The period after the First World War was difficult for the motor industry and surviving post-warGlossary Term showrooms are rarer than Edwardian ones. But this survey can end with two sales buildings of the twenties, both on the south-west of the city centre, but further out than John Bright Street, beyond the later Inner Ring Road.

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Birmingham, Bristol Street, Alfred Allen's shop

Alfred Allen's furniture shop in Bristol Street looks with its huge concave gableGlossary Term almost like radical Arts and CraftsGlossary Term work of around 1900, but was built in 1926 to a design by T.D. Griffiths of Coventry for Cecil Kay, a dealer in Rover and Fiat. Griffiths' first design had lots of fake half-timberingGlossary Term.

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Birmingham, Hurst Street, Showroom

The row of shops on the corner of Hurst Street and Kent Street was built in 1929-30 as showrooms for Wells and Mayner, who were general dealers in second hand cars. The architect was Alfred J. Dunn, quite a radical Free StyleGlossary Term architect in Birmingham and Gloucester during the Edwardian period. This is rather a comedown: small scale and domestic, with bayGlossary Term windows on the upper floor.

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