Landaulette, by Burlington Carriage Company

This landaulette was built at some point in the late 19th century and early 20th century by the Burlington Carriage Company Ltd. A four wheeled carriage that has two front seats, and two enclosed passenger seats. Landaulettes were typically pulled by either one or two horses.

The body of the landaulette is painted black, with thin red lining, and the interior seating of the carriage has black leather upholstery. A prominent feature of this carriage is that the back half of its carriage box is a foldable black leather hood. The body of the carriage also has side and front facing windows, and side doors for its passengers.

The front seats have dark blue cushioning, and the driver’s seat includes a handbrake which controls the carriage’s spoon braking system. The wheels have hub caps which are engraved “Burlington Carriage Coy, 315 Oxford St W”.

A landaulette is compact variation of a landau which had a smaller frame and less seating. This meant that whilst landaus had to be pulled by four horses, a landaulette only needed one or two horses, making them cheaper and more manoeuvrable.

Perhaps the most identifying feature of both landaus and landaulettes are their foldable roofs, which gave these carriages greater adaptability for different types of weather compared to other carriages. Whilst landaus had two-part foldable roofs that could complete come down, landaulettes could only have their back halves folded down.

Landaulettes were known to be key instruments of trade for surgeons and doctors, who relied on their adaptability to travel around both city and country roads to reach people in need.

The name landaulette was also used for the ‘landaulet’ car body style and was characterised by having the passenger seats covered by a removable top, with the chauffeur usually covered and separated from passengers by a division, similar to a limousine.