Historic London Shopfronts

56 Artillery Lane (formerly Raven Row), Spitalfields

56 Artillery Lane in Spitalfields will be unknown to many seasoned London shoppers. It lies far from the West End, in a warren of small streets and passages that evoke Dickensian London despite the proximity of Liverpool Street Station.

Now an art exhibition centre, this building was probably erected in the 1720s for a Huguenot silk merchant. Around 1756 it was refronted and the present shopfront – one of the oldest in London – installed. The flattened bow windows are characteristic of the period.

In the 1750s this shop may have belonged to the silk mercer Francis Rybot (Ribault), who leased the property from another mercer of French extraction, Nicholas Jourdain.

Throughout the 18th century the shop was known by ‘the sign of the cat’. It was a grocer’s shop from 1813 until 1935. Today, recognised as the finest mid-Georgian shopfront in the city, it is listed Grade I. The shopfront next door, at 58 Artillery Lane, is also worth a look: it dates from the early 19th century and is Grade II listed.

Fribourg & Treyer, 34 Haymarket, Westminster

This lovely late 18th-century shopfront, with its prominent bow windows, small panes and narrow glazing bars, can be found just south of Piccadilly Circus. It is a remarkable and surprising survival in a street that has witnessed extensive redevelopment over the centuries.

Until 1982 the premises were occupied by the tobacco and snuff dealer, Fribourg & Treyer. One of their signs is still set into a window pane. Peter Fribourg, the founder, was at this address in 1751, but the shopfront seems slightly later in date. It is worth popping inside to see the remaining Georgian fixtures and fittings, including an Adam-style screen. The shop is listed Grade II*.

Berry Bros & Rudd, 3 St James’s Street, Westminster

Under various guises – Bourne, Pickering and then Berry – the same firm has traded here, in the heart of London’s ‘Clubland’, since 1698. It was originally a grocer’s shop and, until street numbering was introduced, the address was ‘at the sign of the coffee mill’. A modern version of the coffee mill sign still hangs outside the shop, but by the mid-19th century Berry Bros & Rudd had become a specialist wine and spirit dealer, as it remains today.

The venerable arcaded shopfront was installed around 1800. Note the elegant glazing, with very slender bars, and the pleasingly battered panelling with its blistered paintwork. The old wooden shutters still line the passage, Pickering Place, to the side of the shop. The building is listed Grade II*.

James Smith & Sons, 53 New Oxford Street, Camden

Lying close to the British Museum in Bloomsbury, this supreme example of mid-to-late Victorian shop lettering is listed Grade II*. Neighbouring business premises once had similarly brazen displays of signage, but this is the only one to survive. You have to raise your eyes above the shopfront to appreciate the full effect.

James Smith & Sons specialises in umbrellas and walking sticks, which are still made in the basement under the shop. It was established in Foubert Street in 1830 but this branch opened in 1867. The building, Hazelwood House, was remodelled when Shaftesbury Avenue was created around 1880, and the shopfront probably dates from that time. It is typical of the age, making use of all available surfaces – some of them carefully restored – for advertising purposes, and topped by decorative Gothic-style iron cresting.

Cordings, Denman House, 19-20 Piccadilly, Westminster

John Cording’s first shop, specialising in gentlemen’s outerwear, opened on the Strand in 1839 and moved to 19 Piccadilly in 1877. The present building, including the shopfront, was designed by Harold Arthur Woodington and erected in 1903.

Step to the opposite side of the street and you will see that this building rudely interrupts Norman Shaw’s heroic architectural scheme of the early 20th century, with the Piccadilly Hotel to the left and the former Swan & Edgar store to the right. The only concession made by the owners of Denman House to Shaw’s plans was to set back their façade, re-erecting it to align with the new hotel.

This architectural compromise was deplored at the time as ‘a hopeless blunder’. But it has preserved a wonderful shopfront, of fine materials and exquisite detailing, which perfectly suits the building it occupies. Denman House is listed Grade II.

F Pinet, 47-48 New Bond Street, Westminster

François Pinet was a successful French shoe manufacturer, with a fashionable shop on the Boulevard de la Madeleine in Paris. The firm probably occupied this shop as its London branch from the time of its construction in 1906. The architect of the building was William Flockhart, but close inspection of the window sill reveals the name of the Parisian architect who designed Pinet’s shopfront: ‘Avg Waser’ (Auguste Waser).

This building is listed Grade II. Another interesting example of Flockhart’s commercial work can be seen at 180 New Bond Street, which is also listed Grade II.

An unusual and particularly ingenious aspect of this shopfront is the device of the picture frame. Ornate bronze frames are embedded in the plate-glass windows, beautifully showcasing displays of Pinet’s shoes. The shopfitters must have been highly skilled craftsmen.

T Fox & Co, 118 London Wall, City of London

The sleek, stylish shopfront of this former umbrella shop survives, although the premises were converted into a wine bar in 2015. Fox’s business, manufacturing and selling umbrellas, was established in 1868, and the shop was refurbished in 1937 by E. Pollard & Co, one of the main shopfitters of the day.

Fox’s stylistic approach was very different to that of rival umbrella manufacturers and retailers, James Smith & Sons (see above), who chose to retain their traditional frontage for generations. The combination of bright chrome trim, shiny black Vitrolite (opaque glass) and red neon lettering were the height of modernity in the 1930s – and remain so today.

The concave non-reflective glass in the display windows is worth a special look. These windows were designed by Pollard’s to eliminate reflections that might affect the visibility of displays. They were expensive: very few were made and a mere handful survive today. One other fine example can be seen at Waterstone’s (formerly Simpson) on Piccadilly. Fox’s is listed Grade II.