Illustration: James Shoolbred & Co catalogue, 1874.
James Shoolbred started his company in Tottenham Court Road by purchasing number 155 in the 1820s. He was involved in supplying textiles to the burgeoning interior decoration market in London. He must have done well and quickly because he soon purchased numbers 154 and 156, either side of the original building. With his newly expanded premises, the shop was restructured and the stock was expanded. The new premises included a haberdashers and a carpet warehouse, as well as expanded accommodation for the stock of textiles, which included wool, silk and linen.
By the 1880s the company had expanded to such an extent that the business had to move again, this time into premises that functioned as an early department store. The new store was popular from the start. One aspect that proved popular with customers was the detailed displays of interior decorative schemes. Furniture, textiles, carpets and various accessories would be laid out as they would be seen in a real interior. This made it much easier for customers to perceive what their purchases would look like outside the constraints of the department store. It was also a good retail trick as it encouraged customers to buy whole ensembles, which they could reconstruct in their own home without having to hire an interior designer or sort out interior schemes themselves. This marketing trick is still used extensively today by such retail giants as Ikea.
Furniture design became an increasingly important aspect of the company and therefore played a large part in the catalogues that the company produced every year. All the major fashionable Revival movements were included, ranging from Gothic to Japanese, and included the numerous French styles.
Interestingly, because James Shoolbred & Co produced catalogues that were so detailed and wide ranging, many were used as literal pattern books in order to copy the latest London styles. This was a particular problem in far-flung British outposts like Australia and New Zealand where there was a brisk trade in James Shoolbred & Co furniture design, with details being worked out from the illustrations generously provided by the company. This furniture was then passed off as being part of a locally designed production.
The catalogues today are an intriguing view of interior tastes and styles of the later nineteenth century and are an invaluable tool, as are all catalogues, for any researcher, historian or anyone with an interest in the history of domestic interior design and decoration.
Unfortunately, the company did not survive the financial crisis of 1929 and closed its department doors for good in 1931.
Further reading links:
An album of nineteenth-century interiors: Watercolors from two private collections
Domestic Space: Reading the Nineteenth-Century Interior
House Proud Nineteenth Century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection [HC,2008]
Interior Designs of the Nineteenth Century
Travelling by Sea in the Nineteenth Century Interior Design in Victorian Passeng
Nineteenth-Century Decoration: The Art of the Interior
History of Interior Design and Furniture: From Ancient Egypt to Nineteenth-Century Europe
English Furniture, Decoration, Woodwork, and Allied Arts; From the last half of the Seventeenth Century to the early part of the Nineteenth Century
Victorian Revival in Interior Design
Late Victorian Interiors and Interior Details
The Antiques Book of Victorian Interiors
Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau
Victorian House Style: An Architectural and Interior Design Sourcebook
Hints on Household Taste: The Classic Handbook of Victorian Interior Decoration
Victorian interior design
By the 1880s the company had expanded to such an extent that the business had to move again, this time into premises that functioned as an early department store. The new store was popular from the start. One aspect that proved popular with customers was the detailed displays of interior decorative schemes. Furniture, textiles, carpets and various accessories would be laid out as they would be seen in a real interior. This made it much easier for customers to perceive what their purchases would look like outside the constraints of the department store. It was also a good retail trick as it encouraged customers to buy whole ensembles, which they could reconstruct in their own home without having to hire an interior designer or sort out interior schemes themselves. This marketing trick is still used extensively today by such retail giants as Ikea.
By the 1870s, the company had started to design and manufacture their own furniture. This furniture, along with other interior accessories, were displayed in a series of catalogues that started to appear from about 1873 onwards. The catalogues were meant to expand the appeal of James Shoolbred & Co beyond their department store, and more importantly, beyond London.
Furniture design became an increasingly important aspect of the company and therefore played a large part in the catalogues that the company produced every year. All the major fashionable Revival movements were included, ranging from Gothic to Japanese, and included the numerous French styles.
Interestingly, because James Shoolbred & Co produced catalogues that were so detailed and wide ranging, many were used as literal pattern books in order to copy the latest London styles. This was a particular problem in far-flung British outposts like Australia and New Zealand where there was a brisk trade in James Shoolbred & Co furniture design, with details being worked out from the illustrations generously provided by the company. This furniture was then passed off as being part of a locally designed production.
The catalogues today are an intriguing view of interior tastes and styles of the later nineteenth century and are an invaluable tool, as are all catalogues, for any researcher, historian or anyone with an interest in the history of domestic interior design and decoration.
Unfortunately, the company did not survive the financial crisis of 1929 and closed its department doors for good in 1931.
Further reading links:
An album of nineteenth-century interiors: Watercolors from two private collections
Domestic Space: Reading the Nineteenth-Century Interior
House Proud Nineteenth Century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection [HC,2008]
Interior Designs of the Nineteenth Century
Travelling by Sea in the Nineteenth Century Interior Design in Victorian Passeng
Nineteenth-Century Decoration: The Art of the Interior
History of Interior Design and Furniture: From Ancient Egypt to Nineteenth-Century Europe
English Furniture, Decoration, Woodwork, and Allied Arts; From the last half of the Seventeenth Century to the early part of the Nineteenth Century
Victorian Revival in Interior Design
Late Victorian Interiors and Interior Details
The Antiques Book of Victorian Interiors
Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau
Victorian House Style: An Architectural and Interior Design Sourcebook
Hints on Household Taste: The Classic Handbook of Victorian Interior Decoration
Victorian interior design
