Quest for Liberty
Coat of arms sign of Liberty, Regent Street, London
Some background information:
Liberty is a department store on Regent Street, based in the West End shopping district of Central London. It sells a wide range of luxury goods including women’s, men’s and children’s fashion, cosmetics and fragrances, jewellery, accessories, homewares, furniture, stationery and gifts. Liberty is also known for its floral and graphic prints.
The department store was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875. Born in 1843, Liberty decided to start a business of his own in 1874 after having been employed by Messrs Farmer and Rogers in Regent Street for twelve years. With a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, he accepted the lease of half a shop at 218a Regent Street with only three staff members. When the shop opened in 1875, it sold ornaments, fabrics and objets d'art from Japan and the East.
Within eighteen months Arthur Liberty had repaid the loan and acquired the second half of 218 Regent Street. As the business grew, neighbouring properties were bought and added. In 1884 Liberty introduced the costume department into the Regent Street store. In 1885 142–144 Regent Street was acquired, which housed the ever-increasing demand for carpets and furniture. The basement was named the Eastern Bazaar, and was the vending place for what was described as "decorative furnishing objects". Liberty named the property Chesham House after the place in which he grew up. The store became the most fashionable place to shop in London and Liberty fabrics were used for both clothing and furnishings.
During the 1890s Arthur Lasenby Liberty built strong relationships with many English designers. Many of them practised the artistic styles known as Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau. Through his encouragement of such designers Liberty helped to develop Art Nouveau. The company became associated with this new style, to the extent that in Italy Art Nouveau became known as the "Stile Liberty".
In the early 1920s the Tudor revival building was built so that trading could continue while renovations were being completed on the other premises and in 1924 this store was constructed from the timbers of two ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan. The frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the HMS Hindustan. It is a Grade II listed building now.
The emporium was designed by Edwin Thomas Hall and his son Edwin Stanley Hall. They planned the building at the height of the 1920s fashion for Tudor revival. The shop was engineered around three light wells that formed the main focus of the building. Each of these wells was surrounded by smaller rooms to create a homely feel. Many of the rooms had fireplaces and some still exist. But Arthur Lasenby Liberty already died in 1917, seven years before the completion of his shops.
In 1955, Liberty began opening several regional stores in other UK cities. The first of these was in Manchester. Subsequent shops opened in Bath, Brighton, Chester, York and Norwich. However in 1996 Liberty announced the closure of all of its department stores outside London and instead started focussing on small shops at airports. in 2010 the department store was taken over by the private equity firm BlueGem Capital. Liberty had and still has close collaborations with renowned fashion designers, such as Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Manolo Blahnik.
Quest for Liberty
Coat of arms sign of Liberty, Regent Street, London
Some background information:
Liberty is a department store on Regent Street, based in the West End shopping district of Central London. It sells a wide range of luxury goods including women’s, men’s and children’s fashion, cosmetics and fragrances, jewellery, accessories, homewares, furniture, stationery and gifts. Liberty is also known for its floral and graphic prints.
The department store was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875. Born in 1843, Liberty decided to start a business of his own in 1874 after having been employed by Messrs Farmer and Rogers in Regent Street for twelve years. With a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, he accepted the lease of half a shop at 218a Regent Street with only three staff members. When the shop opened in 1875, it sold ornaments, fabrics and objets d'art from Japan and the East.
Within eighteen months Arthur Liberty had repaid the loan and acquired the second half of 218 Regent Street. As the business grew, neighbouring properties were bought and added. In 1884 Liberty introduced the costume department into the Regent Street store. In 1885 142–144 Regent Street was acquired, which housed the ever-increasing demand for carpets and furniture. The basement was named the Eastern Bazaar, and was the vending place for what was described as "decorative furnishing objects". Liberty named the property Chesham House after the place in which he grew up. The store became the most fashionable place to shop in London and Liberty fabrics were used for both clothing and furnishings.
During the 1890s Arthur Lasenby Liberty built strong relationships with many English designers. Many of them practised the artistic styles known as Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau. Through his encouragement of such designers Liberty helped to develop Art Nouveau. The company became associated with this new style, to the extent that in Italy Art Nouveau became known as the "Stile Liberty".
In the early 1920s the Tudor revival building was built so that trading could continue while renovations were being completed on the other premises and in 1924 this store was constructed from the timbers of two ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan. The frontage on Great Marlborough Street is the same length as the HMS Hindustan. It is a Grade II listed building now.
The emporium was designed by Edwin Thomas Hall and his son Edwin Stanley Hall. They planned the building at the height of the 1920s fashion for Tudor revival. The shop was engineered around three light wells that formed the main focus of the building. Each of these wells was surrounded by smaller rooms to create a homely feel. Many of the rooms had fireplaces and some still exist. But Arthur Lasenby Liberty already died in 1917, seven years before the completion of his shops.
In 1955, Liberty began opening several regional stores in other UK cities. The first of these was in Manchester. Subsequent shops opened in Bath, Brighton, Chester, York and Norwich. However in 1996 Liberty announced the closure of all of its department stores outside London and instead started focussing on small shops at airports. in 2010 the department store was taken over by the private equity firm BlueGem Capital. Liberty had and still has close collaborations with renowned fashion designers, such as Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Manolo Blahnik.