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Building CoNtractors
Early 20th Century
Shops
Lindsay Lennie
W
hile we
undoubtedly admire the
beauty of Victorian and Georgian
shopfronts, it is some of our 20th
century examples which are architecturally
the most daring and striking. Inter-war
shopfronts offer a particularly rich addition
to our townscapes but are sometimes
unappreciated and their designs and materials
not always understood.
The 1925 Paris Exhibition
While many Edwardian shopfronts were
beautifully constructed of exotic hardwoods
and polished brass, they remained of an
inherently similar design to their Victorian
cousins. However, the 1925 Paris Exhibition
was to be a watershed for 20th century
shopfront design.
The Exposition Internationale des
Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Moderne
firmly established the Art Deco movement
while promoting revolutionary styles and
new materials. Designs produced for the
exhibition by French architects such as
Louis-Pierre Sezille and Rene Prou were
breathtaking in their bravery. The angular
windows, daring signage and smooth
frontages left visitors to the exhibition in
no doubt about the radical new direction
which retail architecture would take.
Designs and designers
From this embryonic beginning in
Paris, the style spread rapidly and by the
mid 1930s its use in Art Deco-inspired
shopfronts was widespread throughout
British towns. Undoubtedly the large cities
had the greatest number, with Glasgow
particularly favouring a Moderne style.
Kenna (1985:4) describes this as ‘consumer
Art Deco which did much to brighten up
the Depression-stricken city’. However, the
style is also evident in smaller towns, often
associated with butchers and fishmongers.
Leading architects like Joseph Emberton
(1889–1956) were inspired by visiting the
Paris Exhibition and mapped the way forward
with their exciting new designs. Some, like
Erno Goldfinger (1902–1987) took the ideas to
minimalist extremes. Architects recognised
that shops offered a particular opportunity to
bring Art Deco to the very centre of people’s
lives, to the main shopping streets of Europe.
By the end of the 1920s, two main types
of shopfront style had emerged. The first
was a very minimalist, undecorated design
constructed of sleek and shiny materials. The
second was of a more traditional style using
curved glass entrances, leaded glass to the
clerestory and marble or tiled entrance floors.
There was therefore something of a reluctance
to totally abandon the past. The use of stained
glass to create sunrise motifs was popular for
Gill’s of Crieff blends traditional design with 1930s style, as in its Vitrolite stall-risers.