Birmingham, New Street, "Pantechnatheca"
The Pantechnetheca was one of the most unusual and original Regency buildings in Birmingham and was opened and run by Charles Jones, the building work beginning in 1823, the architect being Thomas Stedman Whitwell. The premises contained three showrooms displaying and selling a selection of manufactures and art, the articles being the best of Birmingham's wares.
At the upper part of the facade Jones had the word PANTECHNETHECA written in Greek letters.
The Pantechnetheca supplied all manner of valuable manufactured articles with a concentration of goods from the local area, these included the 'best Soho and Sheffield Plated Articles, with silver edges, fine Jewellery, Bronzery and Ormolu, in Lamps, Candlesticks, &c., Table and Fancy Cutlery, Papier Mache and Japan Trays and Waiters, fine Fowling Pieces, beautiful and rare specimens of Oriental China, elegant Cabinet and Tortoiseshell Work, in Dressing Cases, Writing Desks, Work Boxes, &c. and a great variety of other articles'.* Later the Pantechnetheca also acted as an art gallery as Jones also sold 'a succession of paintings by the most able ancient and modern masters'. This was a wide variety of wares when most traders only sold what they made, and Jones's shop would have been a kind of showcase within Birmingham of the best of the Midlands produce.
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