ABSTRACT
The modern methods of steel-frame and reinforced-concrete construction being used in Chicago and elsewhere in the USA at the turn of the century were critical to H. G. Selfridge's vision of an enormous, technologically-advanced department store. However, the London Building Regulations contained no provisions for structures of this kind, and therefore hindered the construction of buildings with the wide internal spaces and vast street-level windows which Selfridge desired, and with which his architects and engineers were familiar. The 1894 and 1905 Acts impeded the construction of the Selfridge building through their regulations for fire prevention and structural stability. Building Act reforms of 1908 dealing with cubic footage, and the steel-frame and reinforced-concrete sections in the 1909 Act were, at least in part, due to Selfridge's determination to build a Chicago-style department store in London. Selfridge's novel approach to building that of planning in anticipation of legislative changes, and then pushing for the necessary reforms, surfaced again in 1919.
