Brief history of the Museum
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London Transport Museum's collection originated in the 1920s, when the London General Omnibus Company decided to preserve two Victorian horse buses and an early motorbus for future generations. The Museum of British Transport opened in an old bus garage in Clapham, south London, during the 1960s, before moving to Syon Park in west London in 1973 as the London Transport Collection.
In 1980, the public displays moved again, this time to occupy the Flower Market building in Covent Garden as the London Transport Museum. In 2002, London Transport became Transport for London and, to reflect this, the Museum changed its name to London's Transport Museum. On 28 March 2005, we celebrated 25 years of welcoming visitors in Covent Garden.
The Museum has recently been closed to the public for a complete redesign. It will reopen in November 2007.
The Flower Market building
Markets selling 'fruits, flowers, roots and herbs' were established in Covent Garden by the Earl of Bedford in 1670. By the 19th century, Covent Garden had become London's principal vegetable, fruit and flower market. In the 1830s permanent buildings replaced the traders' stalls in the central square. As the market grew, additional buildings for specialist trading grew up around the piazza.
The building that now houses London Transport Museum was designed as the dedicated Flower Market by William Rogers in 1871. For the next hundred years, this was the heart of London's wholesale flower business, famously trading every day except Christmas.
In 1974 all the market businesses moved out to modern warehouses at Nine Elms in south London. The old market buildings in Covent Garden were restored and the Flower Market became the home of the London Transport Museum, opening in March 1980.
The cast iron and glass architecture has an appropriate feel for a transport museum, being similar to a Victorian railway station. The major refurbishment of 2005-7 has respected the listed historic structure, but includes major improvements to stabilize the environment and incorporate energy-saving features such as photo-voltaic cells on the roof to provide electrical power.