Landau (carriage)

A landau is a coachbuilding term for a type of four-wheeled, convertible carriage. See also Landau (automobile). It was a city carriage of luxury type. The low shell of the landau made for maximum visibility of the occupants and their clothing, a feature that makes a landau still a popular choice for Lords Mayor in the United Kingdom on ceremonial occasions.

It is lightweight and suspended on elliptical springs. It was invented in the 18th century; landau in this sense is first noted in English in 1743. It was named after the German city of Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate where they were first produced. Lord, Hopkinson, coachmakers of Holborn, London, produced the first English landaus in the 1830s.

A landau, drawn by a pair or four-in-hand, is one of several kinds of vis-à-vis, a social carriage with facing seats over a dropped footwell (illustration), which was perfected by the mid-19th century in the form of a swept base that flowed in a single curve. The soft folding top is divided into two sections, front and rear, latched at the center. These usually lie perfectly flat, but the back section can be let down or thrown back while the front section can be removed or left stationary. When fully opened, the top can completely cover the passengers, with some loss of the graceful line.

The landau's center section might contain a fixed full-height glazed door, or more usually a low half-door. There would usually be a separate raised open driver's upholstered bench-seat, but a landau could be postilion-driven, and there was usually a separate groom's seat, sprung above and behind the rear axle, saving the groom from having to stand on a running board.

A small landau, a coupé with a folding top, was called a landaulet. A brougham called a brougham-landaulet had a top collapsible from the rear doors backward. A five-glass landau was fitted with a front glass windscreen and two windows on each side (including retractable windows on the doors).

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