The Block Arcade

The Block Arcade is a six-story building defined by its immense glass roof and mosaic-tiled floors. Designed in the late eighteen nineties, it replicates the style of Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele Two. When the arcade opened in eighteen ninety-three, the developer, Thomas Moubray, insisted on keeping the interior brightly lit to attract the city's wealthy elite. A local tea room remains in the same spot where fashionable women once gathered to observe pedestrians, a practice that earned the space its name.