Category:Lotts
Toy Brands and Manufacturers |
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Lotts |
1918 - |
A typical early Lotts Bricks house, detail [image info]
Watford Station, "Metro-land", built 1925 [image info]
"Lotts Town" railway station [image info]
1939: Lotts Dolls' Hospital Outfit, Hamleys Catalogue image [image info]
Watford-based Lott's (are best-remembered (in terms of unique products) for their Lott's Bricks range of building sets, but they also produced chemistry sets and "electricity" sets. In later advertising, the name tended to be spelt "Lotts", without the hyphen.
Lotts Bricks
The Lotts Bricks block-sets were designed for the company by Arnold Mitchell (1863-1944), and the early sets carried the tagline, "DESIGNED THROUGHOUT BY ARNOLD MITCHELL, Architect".
Arnold Mitchell
Mitchell had rapidly risen through the ranks of successful architects in the late C19th with a succession of buildings in the Arts and Crafts architectural style, which featured natural-looking textures and stylings reminiscent of low-tech rural buildings such as barns, often with large steep-sloped roofs extending down to comparatively low level, giving the appearance of a robust but unsophisticated construction.
- " There are perhaps few architects to whom success has come so rapidly and so early as to Mr. Arnold Mitchell ... In Mr. Arnold Mitchell's domestic work, which is all this article proposes to touch upon, the chief reason for his success is not far to seek. He is essentially a convenient and happy planner. His designs for houses, be they large or small, have a quality of " homeyness " and common-sense (a quality ofttimes sadly lacking in men with big reputations) ... "
The Studio, Volume 27, 1902-1903
Michell went on to win the Daily Mail Ideal Homes Exhibition prize in 1912 for his design for a £500 house, and was probably an obvious choice when E.A. Lott decided to produce sets of stone building blocks as "house" sets, circa 1915.
Michell's classic design was his four-gabled country house, a version of which then became the classic "Lott's Bricks house featured on boxlids and in the Lotts advertising, but it's also worth tracking down images of Mitchell's "Royal Cottage, Royal Villa and Golf Pavilion", which looks like a classic Lott's Bricks house with a simple Lott's Bricks forecourt.
Contemporary architecture
Mitchell's designs essentially defined the look and character of Lott's Bricks, and scored points for the company on at least three fronts:
- They secured the kudos of connecting the sets to the name of a comparatively well-known architect,
- They helped to create a range of model building designs that were (ironically) bang-up-to-date in mirroring the "retro" house designs being built as part of the Metro-land suburban developments taking place along the Metropolitan Railway (also famous for its "fake Tudor" houses which could be copied with Lott's' later Tudor Blocks sets), and
- By creating a brand new set of simple traditional-looking designs that were still recognisably "Modern English", avoiding the trap of being unduly influenced by the existing range of Germanic-looking Richter Anchor Blocks designs, important as one of the selling-points of the Lott's sets in the post-WW1 years was that they were emphatically NOT German.
Coincidentally, the best-preserved urban example of the high-roofed "Arts and Crafts" style is supposed to be Lott's' local Watford Station, now a listed building and regarded as the quintessential nostalgic-looking "Metroland" railway station. Although the station looks startlingly like a Lott's Bricks building (apart from the non-gabled ends), it was actually built in 1925, and designed by Charles Walter Clark.
Lott's Puzzles
Although Lott's Stone Puzzles were referred to in the plural, the advertising that we've found so far only seems to show a single stone puzzle "Butterfly" with variations in packaging. This was basically lifted from one of the many Richter "Anchor Blocks" puzzles, German intellectual property rights having been suspended during the War, and removed after Germany surrendered.
External links and references
- Watford Observer: Do you remember Lott's Bricks? (watfordobserver.co.uk)
- Arts and Crafts movement (wikipedia.org)
Arnold Mitchell
- "Some recent architectural designs by Arnold Mitchell", The Studio, Volume 27 No.11, 1902-1903 – Architecture by Arnold Mitchell: Houses at Northolt, Lewes, Rickmansworth, Pangbourne, Great Stanmore, Harrow - "The Sundial", Northwood - The Royal Cottage, Royal Villa and Golf Pavilion, Coq-sur-mer, Ostend.
- The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 86, January-June 1904 (archive.org)
Subcategories
This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.
B
- Buildec (2 F)
L
- Lodomo (Lotts Bricks) (3 P, 3 F)
- Lotts Bricks model railway buildings (2 P, 9 F)
- Lotts Chemistry Sets (5 F)
- Lotts Stone Puzzles (1 P, 6 F)
- Lotts Tudor Blocks (5 P, 21 F)
W
- Wonderbrix (Lotts Bricks) (2 P)
Pages in category ‘Lotts’
The following 20 pages are in this category, out of 20 total.
F
L
Media in category ‘Lotts’
The following 58 files are in this category, out of 58 total.
- Area 24.jpg 800 × 800; 422 KB
- Box 4, contents, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,800 × 1,317; 476 KB
- Box 5, contents, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,800 × 1,584; 635 KB
- Box 6, contents, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,800 × 1,187; 423 KB
- Buildec, Lotts Bricks (MM 1936-10).jpg 1,162 × 1,200; 264 KB
- Chalet, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,600 × 1,588; 679 KB
- Design, Lotts Stone Puzzles.jpg 1,914 × 1,224; 157 KB
- Dolls Hospital Outfit, Lotts (HamleyCat 1939).jpg 1,786 × 1,163; 600 KB
- Dutch House flat top, design, Lotts Bricks.jpg 1,200 × 1,141; 295 KB
- Dutch House, design, Lotts Bricks.jpg 1,600 × 1,267; 514 KB
- Fire Station, design, Lotts Bricks.jpg 1,200 × 1,171; 289 KB
- Fishing Lodge, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,200 × 940; 226 KB
- For Your Model Railway, Lotts Bricks (MM 1932-03).jpg 1,170 × 1,600; 505 KB
- Lift Bridge, design, Lotts Bricks.jpg 1,200 × 943; 223 KB
- Lodomo Railway Station, Lotts Bricks (MM unk).jpg 1,600 × 1,067; 382 KB
- Lotts (MM 1963-10).jpg 1,416 × 5,138; 898 KB
- Lotts Bricks (GamCat 1932).jpg 1,800 × 1,217; 460 KB
- Lotts Bricks classic house.jpg 1,024 × 768; 546 KB
- Lotts Bricks Dealer's Cabinet open.jpg 903 × 768; 102 KB
- Lotts Bricks Dealer's Cabinet unpacked.jpg 768 × 953; 107 KB
- Lotts Bricks designs ad.jpg 1,172 × 2,997; 468 KB
- Lotts Bricks for your Model Railway (MM 1933-12).jpg 1,800 × 1,181; 431 KB
- Lotts Bricks for your Model Railway (MM 1934-06).jpg 1,600 × 1,059; 324 KB
- Lotts Bricks for your Railway or Farm (MM 1927-02).jpg 2,200 × 1,453; 941 KB
- Lotts Bricks full-page advert (MM 1924-11).jpg 1,524 × 2,000; 503 KB
- Lotts Bricks logo, 1930s.jpg 1,337 × 620; 92 KB
- Lotts Bricks New Series (MM 1941-01).jpg 1,600 × 745; 218 KB
- Lotts Bricks, Lotts Chemistry (MM 1935-06).jpg 886 × 2,020; 298 KB
- Lotts Bricks, Lotts Chemistry Sets (MM 1935-08).jpg 1,200 × 805; 251 KB
- Lotts Chemistry (MM 1958-09).jpg 803 × 2,241; 247 KB
- Lotts Chemistry (MM 1963-10).jpg 1,200 × 1,049; 183 KB
- Lotts Chemistry and Electricity Sets advert.jpg 2,247 × 1,521; 445 KB
- Lotts Chemistry Lotts Electricity advert halfpage.jpg 2,293 × 1,527; 314 KB
- Lotts Christmas Parade (MM 1939-12).jpg 918 × 1,200; 323 KB
- Lotts New Series Bricks (MM 1939-012).jpg 807 × 1,200; 196 KB
- Lotts Stone Puzzle, boxed.jpg 1,200 × 1,200; 968 KB
- Lotts Stone Puzzle, order form.jpg 1,200 × 898; 660 KB
- Lotts Stone Puzzle, packing.jpg 1,200 × 900; 633 KB
- Lotts Stone Puzzles (MM 1939-12).jpg 1,200 × 494; 208 KB
- Lotts Stone Puzzles (MM 1941-01).jpg 903 × 1,265; 309 KB
- Lotts Town railway station, Lotts Bricks display.jpg 3,200 × 2,134; 3.19 MB
- Lotts Tudor Blocks, manual 4-6.jpg 1,800 × 1,250; 441 KB
- Lotts Tudor Bricks and Buildec (MM 1939-012.jpg 1,200 × 965; 213 KB
- Manor House, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,308 × 1,800; 603 KB
- Memorial Hall, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,200 × 930; 364 KB
- Mission Church, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,167 × 1,200; 313 KB
- Moot Hall, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,033 × 1,200; 379 KB
- Pair of Cottages, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,200 × 941; 314 KB
- Park Entrance, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,800 × 958; 413 KB
- Railway Box, Lotts Bricks (MM 1930-10).jpg 2,200 × 1,475; 1.04 MB
- Railway Station, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,541 × 1,800; 537 KB
- School, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,264 × 1,800; 727 KB
- Signal Box, design, Lotts Bricks.jpg 1,130 × 1,200; 330 KB
- Station Models, Lotts Bricks (MM 1936-07).jpg 909 × 1,800; 384 KB
- Three Storey House, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,001 × 1,200; 284 KB
- Tudor Mansion, design, Lotts Tudor Blocks.jpg 1,600 × 1,557; 686 KB
- Window and Door Accessory Sets, Lotts Bricks (MM 1931-02).jpg 684 × 1,800; 281 KB