BEDFORD LEMERE, who died in 1944, was one of Britain's best architectural photo-graphers and his collection of negatives is owned by the National Monuments Record (English Heritage's archive wing).
These glass-plate negatives are kept in a refrigerated archive store at Swindon, and the Merchant Palaces exhibition is staged in partnership with National Museums Liverpool.
"It was a hard task whittling down the 200 photographs we'd sourced for this exhibition, but we do have their background. Bedford Lemere's day books, or work diaries, have survived," says NMR archivist Anne Woodward.
"Lemere's style was one of record, very rarely do people intrude upon the scene. He was a prolific photographer of buildings and would take anything he was paid to do: schools, factories, banks or mansions."
He was masterly at showing his subject off at its very best in natural light with superlative detail. In most cases, these are photographs taken to record improvements and reconstruction schemes to houses.
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