ARCADES PROJECT

The original façade of Lowther Arcade in Carlisle remains, at least at the English Street end, with its four-storey stone building, bearing the name of the arcade half way up, and a more modern repeat of the name over the covered entrance below. This arcade dates from 1904. Inside, the glass ceiling is still in…

St Kevins Arcade in Auckland celebrated its centenary last year (2024), and has done well to maintain its community feel when many other arcades from that period have become dilapidated and lifeless. The arcade has the advantage of always having been a useful walkway down to the Myers Park, which stretches down the slope below…

The Strand Arcade in Auckland was a late Victorian addition to the city centre; the year 1900 stands under the name above the entrance on Queen Street. The walkway is fairly narrow for an arcade of this height so its four storeys tower up above as you enter, and there are bridges joining the two…

As of May 2025 Trinity Arcade in Perth was the only arcade left in Western Australia’s capital with any original features still remaining. The other half dozen vintage arcades have either been modernised or, in the case of the oldest 19th century arcade, subsumed in a modern-day shoe shop and pub, with just the façade…

Strand Arcade is the last survivor of the original five Victorian arcades in Sydney. It opened in April 1892, and has had a few renovations since then so there are not many original features left but even recent refurbishments have done a good job keeping the overall vintage look to this splendid arcade. It is…

Queens Arcade in Hastings is a prime example of a natural beauty with so much potential sadly neglected and really not living up to its possibilities. There’s barely a handful of businesses operating in the arcade (February 2025), with lots of empty units, and yet take a look at the gold lettering above the shop…

There are hints to this arcade’s rather splendid past, both in some of the remaining features, such as the stained glass windows and the old clock (naming The Arcade, Bognor Regis) over the entrance at the High Street end, and in some of the shops still operating in the arcade today: a rather fine menswear…

Arguably the best-preserved arcade on the South Coast, Royal Arcade in Worthing is celebrating its centenary in 2025, and is looking a lot better than many other arcades built in the 1920s. One end of the arcade looks out towards the sea and the end of Worthing Pier. The other fronts on to South Street,…

Stone arches at either end of Littlehampton’s Arcade show the year the arcade was built – 1922 – and the year it was proudly renovated – 1992. There are attractive murals over the internal wall at one end, showing images of Littlehampton – a lighthouse, beach huts, deck chairs; and in one empty unit a…

Milan’s Galeria Vittorio Emanuele is breathtaking in its beauty, and mind-blowing in its magnitude. It surely can lay claim to being the most stunning arcade in the world (though I’m happy to hear counter-arguments if any readers don’t agree). Of course, it had the advantage over its prestigious predecessors in London and Paris by being…

Fountain Arcade in Dudley has recently benefited from funding to spruce up its two frontages, one with red brick and stone features and the other a much clearer art deco style façade with the name and the year it was built – 1925 – standing clear for all to see. These are the best features…

It’s hard to believe today that when City Arcade opened in 1901 it was part of a planned series of arcades that took shoppers under cover through the streets of Birmingham’s city centre. Much of the area ended up as rubble after a massive bomb attack in April 1941, but a small stretch of City…