Here we celebrate the fact that most properties included in Open House Weekend are in the London Borough of Westminster.
There are two main reasons for this, and oddly, they are directly opposed to each other.
Firstly, the very centre of London it is the oldest continually inhabited part of London, so it stands to reason that some of the buildings are of very ancient age indeed, as far back as Roman buildings, or parts thereof, including the Fort of Londinium which covered twelve acres. However the oldest building in London which is substantially intact is The White Tower, part of The Tower of London, and it was built by William the Conqueror.
Secondly, London has become a showcase for new architecture so most of the important new buildings however we feel about them personally, have been built there. However these are often built over the top of older buildings, destroying them forever, or shadowing them so much that they become no longer visible.
This card is just one of the variations of this fascinating set, which are dealt with more fully in our blog "B for Borough Arms". That tells the differences in all the sets, and one day will include a sample back and front of every one.
This particular card we feature today is with many thanks to keen Wills collector Andrew Walters, who supplied it. It comes from Group 9 - being the same pictures, and style, as Group 4 - and that being numbered 51-100 on the backs, fronts printed in full colour, no frame lines, with "Wills`s Cigarettes" across fronts of cards. Backs with descriptive text, printed in grey. The only real difference here is that the cards say "Second Edition" instead of "Second Series"