The Ideal Home Show (formerly called the Ideal Home Exhibition) is an annual event in London, now held at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. The show was devised by the Daily Mail newspaper in 1908 and continued to be run by the Daily Mail up until 2009. It was then sold to events and publishing company Media 10, who will continue to run a scaled-down and shorter version of the show at Earls Court until the exhibition centre itself is demolished after the 2012 Olympics. The show's future and a new venue after that time have yet to be decided .
Its goal is to bring together everything associated with having an "ideal home", such as the latest inventions for the modern house, and to showcase the latest housing designs. A regular feature of the show for many years was the Ideal House Competition, where designs were invited and the winning schemes erected at the exhibition the following year.
The first exhibition was held in 1908 at the Olympia exhibition centre, with sections dedicated to "phases of home life" such as construction, food and cookery, furniture and decoration. Demonstrations and contests included an Arts and Crafts competition and a competition to design the "Ideal Home". Wareham Smith, advertising manager of the Daily Mail, founded the exhibition as a marketing event for the newspaper. It was often visited by celebrities and royalty.
Read more about Ideal Home Show: 1908 – The First Ever Show, The 1920s & 1930s, 1940s-1970s, 1980-present
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