Demolition work began at the Edwin Davis building on Bond Street last week as part of the £130m Albion Square Development.
The building had stood in various different guises, and locations, for more than 150 years.
The Edwin Davis Company was established in Market Place in around 1840.
By 1910, its premises had been re-fronted, possessing classical columns at either side of its huge shop frontage. During the early 1900s the store had become a prime spot for shoppers, but as a result of a bomb dropped from a First World War Zeppelin in 1915, the shop was completely destroyed.
An image of the Edwin Davis building prior to it being bombed during the Second World War.A new store was constructed on Bond Street in the 1920s.
It was built on the corner of Bond Street and Albion Street and was bombed during the Second World War.
The company’s third and final store, also built in Bond Street in around 1952, remained open until the late 1970s. It was built slightly further down the street, rather than on the corner of Bond Street and Albion Street
The Edwin Davis building in its final guise.
The building was briefly revived during the 1990s as an amusement arcade called 2 The Point and then as Evolution Nightclub.
It has been empty since 1998.
The Edwin Davis building following a brief stint as an amusement arcade and a nightclub in the 1990s.
The building is being demolished as part of the £130m Albion Square development.
The 1.7 hectare site encompasses the Edwin Davis building, the former BHS and Co-op building, and the Albion Street car park.
