TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Early commercial activity included the brewing and
selling of ale, and gravel extraction (below). A degree of
industrial activity is indicated from the late 16th century.
In 1594, for example, Ursula Smith was paid £49 10s. for
two and a quarter years' rent of her house in Chelsea,
which had been used for making the queen's 'engines', (fn. 1)
possibly for use in warfare. From 1639 to 1642, a Mr
Fletcher and others conducted experiments at Chelsea in
dyeing wool, calico, and silk with various substances. (fn. 2)
Industrial premises are recorded from the later 17th
century. In 1672 John Baker leased from Charles Cheyne
two brick messuages near Chelsea College, one of them
called Sweed Court, and two adjoining plots of land, one
enclosed with a wall, which stretched from the highway
to the Thames. He put up several buildings for a
glass-making factory: two glasshouses, an ashhouse, pot
chamber, sandroom and rooms for fetting and mettle, a
long large warehouse and an accounting house nearly
100 ft long, a mill house, a kilnhouse with several kilns, a
smith's shop, several warehouses, and 2 furnaces. By
1681 he had made some improvements and purchased
much equipment, but Cheyne had seized back the property for rent arrears, and refused to complete the lease to
Baker. (fn. 3)
Other industrial premises were also built between the
Westminster highway and the Thames, including
William Kemp's brewery near the Physic Garden in
1686, (fn. 4) the wharf and premises called the Swan belonging
to Francis and Samuel Smith in 1664, (fn. 5) the Clarkson
family's timber wharf, and Richard Wayte's dyehouse
and wharf nearby prior to 1722. (fn. 6) Chelsea's riverside
location made it a prime site for industry which required
large quantities of water, either as an ingredient, such as
brewing, or where river transport was necessary for raw
materials and finished goods, which seems to be why
Thurston's (below) moved there in 1857. There were
wharves at Davis Place, Lombard Street, and Swan Walk
and by 1829 considerable quantities of coal and timber
were handled. (fn. 7) Though the creation of the embankment
ended many of Chelsea's wharves and their trade, a
considerable variety of business was still handled by the
remaining wharves concentrated west of Battersea
Bridge along Lots Road and Chelsea Creek. In addition
to the Chelsea and Kensington municipal wharves, Lots
Road had wharves of timber, slate, hay, lime, malt, stone,
brick, and tile merchants in 1902. (fn. 8) Some wharves on
Chelsea Creek were used for boat hire and repair as late
as the 1930s. (fn. 9) Chelsea Yachts' boatyard was based near
Lots Road power station in the 1930s, and during the
war carried out a considerable amount of contract work
for the Admiralty. After 1945 the firm expanded to
workshops in Lacland Place: it was here that one of
Donald Campbell's record-breaking speedboats was
built. The company also diversified their activities away
from purely maritime concerns, building parts for
pre-fabricated housing. (fn. 10) After the Second World War
Chelsea and Kensington borough wharves also served
refuse barges, to which there was considerable opposition. (fn. 11) The new Cremorne Gardens used the site of
Durham and Kensington wharves, and two jetties once
used for transferring refuse survived in 2001. To the west
the borough council still used Cremorne Wharf for
waste management in 2001, and former wharves west of
Lots Road were used as depots.
Several industries in Chelsea from the later 18th
century were also associated with the growing demand
created by the constant expansion of urban and
suburban housing in London, such paper-stainers,
Downing's floorcloth factory, and Thomas Crapper's
sanitary fittings, (fn. 12) and others met the demands of the
growing number of well-off consumers. These included
several coach builders, such James Stocken, carriage
builder, who had a workshop at no. 10 Upper George
Street on the corner of Sloane Terrace by 1888, when he
also took an underlease of part of Downing's factory at
the northern end of no. 120 King's Road. There he had a
coachhouse and took an addition lease in 1896 giving
him access into College Place. (fn. 13) Hoopers, coach builders,
had works in Smith Street, originally building
horse-drawn coaches, but later becoming coach builders
for the motor car manufacturer Daimler. (fn. 14) Another
business serving middle-class consumers was Joubert's,
fashionable cabinet makers and decorators, who in 1881
opened a workshop and showroom at no. 152 King's
Road, known popularly as the Pheasantry. The last of the
family to work there, Felix Joubert, made miniature
furniture and other items for Queen Mary's dolls' house,
and also designed the cinema next door at nos 148-50
called the Electric Theatre in 1912. (fn. 15) The showroom had
closed by 1914 when only the basement was kept as
workshops, and the rest let as studios, and Felix Joubert
retired in 1932. (fn. 16)
Figure 54:
Boatyards and wharves at Cheyne Walk and Lots Road 1956, with Chelsea Flour Mills (later Chelsea Wharf) and Lots Road power station
A wide variety of occupations and trades were practised by Chelsea's inhabitants by the 19th century. In
1845 those qualified to serve as jurors included victuallers, brewers, maltsters, paper-stainers, coach builders,
silk weavers, drapers, cordwainers, and coal dealers. (fn. 1) In
1831, 3,544 of Chelsea's inhabitants were employed in
the retail trade, as shopworkers, apprentices and journeymen, 1,224 men were employed in professional positions, 1,445 worked on the river, the canals or on the
roads, and over 20,000 were employed in domestic
service. Those engaged in trade or the professions
performed a wide variety of jobs and included 13
gun-makers, one pipe-maker, 16 hucksters, one
calico-printer, six toymen, three wine-dealers, and one
cork-cutter. (fn. 2) In 1938, the number of Chelsea's inhabitants employed in manufacturing had declined as a
proportion of the parish population as a whole, and
especially in relation to those employed in retail. In 1938
the borough had 370 factories employing 5,459 people,
of whom the majority worked for clothing
manufacturers, engineering firms and boatyards, and for
furniture makers. (fn. 3)
PRINCIPAL INDUSTRIES AND FIRMS
Extractive Industries
Gravel was being dug in Chelsea manor in 1399, and
earlier references to 'digging' probably also concerned
gravel. (fn. 4) Gravel was also dug from Chelsea common. (fn. 5)
Brickills, the name in the 1630s for the house later
known as Stanley House, may indicate brick making or
perhaps the digging of clay; some pits had been dug by
1630 on land associated with the property. (fn. 6) Sir Richard
Manningham was granted a lease of Chelsea Park in
1724 which allowed him to dig and carry away gravel. (fn. 7)
The nursery ground at the north-west corner of King's
Road and Park Walk was being dug for clay and gravel in
1785. (fn. 8) The brick kiln in 'Chelsea fields' in 1613 was
probably not in Chelsea parish but at Ebury (Westm.),
near the later Chelsea Bun house, where many bricks
were made in the 18th and 19th centuries. (fn. 9)
Brewing
Extant views of frankpledge between 1369 and 1399
show that many tenants of the manor were brewing and
selling ale, in their houses and outside: between 10 and
25 men and women were presented at each view for
breaking the assize of ale and other infringements, such
as regrating, selling before the aletasters had been
summoned, not using cups with the stamped measure,
and not posting the customary sign. (fn. 1) William Nicoll and
William Halle of Chelsea were described as brewers
c. 1425, (fn. 2) and premises which included brewhouses are
recorded from the late 15th century, such as that owned
by John Drayton prior to 1476 and John Young prior to
1524. (fn. 3) In 1536 Julian Fenrother of London leased property to John Pattenson of Chelsea which included her
brewhouse in Chelsea with brewing vessels and utensils,
furnace, 2 barrels, malt mill, and all equipment except
for the horse and harness. (fn. 4) The property was added to
the manorial demesne, and may have been the Feathers
which stood by the riverside near Lordship Yard. (fn. 5)
A number of brewers and maltsters are recorded in
the parish during the 17th century, and breweries and
malt houses were recorded in Chelsea in 1648, 1658,
1677, and 1708. (fn. 6) William Kemp had a brewery near the
Physic Garden in 1686, (fn. 7) and near it were the wharf and
premises called the Swan belonging to Francis and
Samuel Smith in 1664, (fn. 8) which included two malt houses
and continued in use as a brewery until the formation of
the embankment in the 1870s. (fn. 9) Thomas Harris leased a
malt house with kiln and granaries near Lordship Yard
from the manor in 1725. (fn. 10) The Two Brewers in King's
Road, leased to Joseph Aldridge of Chelsea, brewer, had
a brewhouse, yard, malthouse, and stabling for 6 horses
in 1734. (fn. 11) There continued to be a number of breweries
and brewhouses in Chelsea well into the 20th century.
The Archer brewery had premises on the corner of
Church Yard and Russell Street in the late 19th
century; (fn. 12) there was a brewery tap at no. 22 Queen Street,
and the Hans Town Brewhouse in George Street. (fn. 13)
By 1729 William Green of Fulham, brewer, had built a
brewhouse and other buildings on 2 acres which lay on
the south side of King's Road at Stanley Bridge. (fn. 14) In 1747
the lease and buildings of Green's brewery were assigned
to John Poole of Strand (Westm.), staymaker, together
with the utensils and goods including a malt mill, liquor
engine and stand pipes, 2 coppers with ironwork and
copper backs, 2 mashing tuns, and other items used in
the brewery. (fn. 15) Thereafter it was known as Poole's
brewery, and the family were still there in 1785, (fn. 16) but
there was no longer a brewery there by the mid 19th
century. (fn. 17)
Silk Production
In 1718 John Appletree of Worcester took out a royal
patent for a way of raising silk in Great Britain, and
established the Raw Silk Company to produce silk in
Chelsea. (fn. 18) Appletree, Richard Musgrave, and others took
a 61-year lease from William Sloane of the 40-acre
Chelsea Park in 1718 at £200 for the use of the members
of a joint-stock company who had a patent for silk
production and intended growing mulberry trees for
silkworms. (fn. 19) The park had been recommended to them
as suitable for growing the trees and about 2,000 were
planted. A large house with heating was built 'for
nursing silkworms'. (fn. 20) In 1723 satin was made for the
Princess of Wales from the English silkworms, but by the
following year the enterprise was in financial difficulties,
possibly because the import tax on raw silk had been
removed in 1721 and other economic conditions at the
time, and seems to have ceased operations. In 1724 the
park was leased to Sir Richard Manningham, a member
of the silk company, for building, subject to the lease of
the silk producers' house and ground during the term of
their patent; if their lease was not renewed,
Manningham was permitted to sell the mulberry trees
growing there. (fn. 21) Christopher Le Blon, a Flemish
engraver, set up a factory in the park, fronting King's
Road near the south-west corner of the park, to weave
tapestries of Raphael's Cartoons 1732-4, but this also
failed, (fn. 22) and his 3 workshops were empty in 1735. (fn. 23)
Chelsea Porcelain
The industry most closely associated with Chelsea, even
two hundred years after it ceased to be a part of the
economic life of the parish, was porcelain manufacture.
A Huguenot silversmith, Nicholas Sprimont (d. 1771),
then living in Soho, rented a house on the east side of
Church Lane, later nos 26 and 28, in 1744 and began
making fine hard-paste porcelain in the style pioneered
at the Meissen workshops in Germany. (fn. 1) He himself
moved to Chelsea c. 1748. A factory showroom was
opened by 1747 in the double house forming the eastern
half of the Monmouth House group at the top of
Lawrence Street, and by 1749 the business was so
successful that it expanded into the neighbouring property in Church Lane (later nos 32-6 even), and in 1750
into a purpose-built factory behind fronting Lawrence
Street, on an empty site north of the house at the corner
of Justice Walk. Sprimont seems to have had financial
backers, who may have included Charles Gouyn up to
c. 1749, and Sir Everard Fawkener and his brother
William, Governor of the Bank of England, from 1746,
who probably paid for the new factory buildings in
Lawrence Street. Sir Everard also helped get Meissen
models for Chelsea to copy, and encouraged royal and
noble patronage. Henry Porter, who bought the Church
Lane premises when the freehold was sold by John Offley
in 1751, was also involved in the business, especially in
marketing the porcelain. Chelsea porcelain quickly
established a reputation for high quality: in 1762-3 the
factory produced the famous Mecklenburg-Strelitz
service given by George III and Queen Charlotte to the
queen's brother. The factory was at its height in the
1750s, producing some of its best work with much of the
decoration inspired by plants and flowers from the
nearby Physic Garden. (fn. 2) Sprimont also founded a
training school of 30 boys taken from the parish and
charity schools, training them as modellers and painters,
who were among the c. 100 workers at Chelsea in the
early 1750s. From 1756 Sprimont was afflicted by
ill-health, which led to a gradual decline in output, and
in 1763 he held his last public sale. In 1765 the warehouse in the eastern half of Monmouth House was given
up, and Sprimont's own residence in the western part
was also used as a warehouse until it and the factory
closed in 1768. The factory with its equipment,
remaining stock, and leases was put up for sale in 1769,
and sold to James Cox, jeweller, who in turn sold the
failing factory in 1770 to William Duesbury, a ceramics
decorator, and his partner John Heath, who together
had opened a porcelain factory at Derby in 1756. The
purchase of the Chelsea factory enabled them to found a
branch of the Derby business in London and acquire
Chelsea's rich and fashionable clientele, as well as to
make use of the expertise and technical knowledge of the
Chelsea artists and workers. However, production at the
factory was greatly reduced from Sprimont's time, with
no more than a dozen people employed. Duesbury
renewed the ground lease until 1784, when the final sale
to include Chelsea was held and the factory buildings in
Lawrence Street were demolished.
Other China Workshops
Between 1769 and 1773, Thomas Bentley, a partner of
Josiah Wedgwood of Burslem, had a workshop in
Chelsea, located in Glebe Place and Upper Cheyne Row,
for the purposes of enamelling and glazing. (fn. 3) It is possible
that the large dinner service made by Wedgwood for the
Empress Catherine was decorated and finished in
Chelsea. (fn. 4) Wedgwood's workshop closed in 1774, but in
the same year W. Ruhl established a pottery in Little
Cheyne Row. (fn. 5) In 1790 the lease expired on this property
and the factory moved to the King's Road. Nearly a
century later, William de Morgan, an associate of
William Morris, moved his pottery workshop from
Fitzroy Square to Cheyne Row in 1872, where a kiln was
built and pottery sold through Morris. The factory
moved from Chelsea in 1882 and the firm established by
de Morgan closed in 1907. (fn. 6)
More recently, the Chelsea Pottery was founded in
1952 by David and Mary Rawnsley at no. 13 Radnor
Walk, formerly used for many years by Buchanan,
coachbuilders. As an 'open' studio, any potter could
come and work there, and lessons were also given to
amateurs. In 1959 the Rawnsleys left the pottery in the
hands of Brian Hubbard, who went on to run it for
nearly forty years. In 1961 it was threatened with closure
when the lease expired, because of the high property
prices in Chelsea: a committee of artists and residents
called on the borough council to use compulsory
purchase powers to preserve the pottery, but eventually
private individuals raised £26,000 to buy the premises.
Redevelopment of Radnor Walk eventually forced the
pottery to move to Ebury Mews, Belgravia, in 1994, and
when the lease on the new premises expired, the Chelsea
Pottery closed in 1997. The pottery produced a wide
range of hand-made ceramics, using sgraffito technique,
and was best known for its highly decorated earthenware, the colour of the pieces being achieved by the use
of painting and coloured glazes, a technique that has
been referred to as 'inlay and overlay'. (fn. 7)
Metalwork
A major foundry was established in World's End Passage
by the bell founder Thomas Janaway, possibly the same
premises as the New Foundry whose newly invented
cannon was proved on Hampstead Heath in 1750 with
great success. Thomas Janaway is thought to have
learned bell-founding from Thomas Lester at the Whitechapel Foundry, and had set up at Chelsea by 1759,
when he recast Chelsea's bells; peals for Kensington and
St Martin-in-the-Fields were also cast there, but most of
his work was for churches in Sussex, Surrey, and Kent.
He died in 1788, his tools and stamps being purchased
by William Mears at Whitechapel. The foundry may
have carried on working after his death, but had closed
by 1824 when the site was sold for building. (fn. 1)
In 1809 James Pilton's Manufactory in King's Road
advertised its fences, verandahs, and other ornamental
metalwork. (fn. 2) Weaponsmiths Wilkinson Sword had
workshops in Chelsea in the later 19th century: their
Oakley works were located on the north side of King's
Road between Sydney Street and Manor Street. (fn. 3) Thomas
Ferguson had a mill and an iron foundry on land leased
from the Cremorne estate, (fn. 4) possibly the same site as the
Cadogan ironworks, which had a foundry on Lots Road
in the early years of the 20th century. (fn. 5) George Glover &
Company, patent dry gas meter manufacturers, who
operated from the Ranelagh Works in Ranelagh Road,
Pimlico (Westm.) in 1869 and 1878, (fn. 6) leased Downing's
factory at nos 120-2 King's Road in 1878 and apparently
moved their works there, as it was later referred to as
Ranelagh Works. (fn. 7)
Downing's Floorcloth Factory
Floorcloth manufacture involved coating canvas in
several thick layers of paint and then applying a pattern
using wooden blocks, apparently carried out in summer
to ensure drying, which provided a popular and inexpensive floor covering. The oil-cloth was also used for
awnings, tents, and garden buildings. (fn. 8) A large floorcloth
factory was established c. 1750 on the south side of the
Knightsbridge road, just outside the Chelsea boundary,
and in the later 1780s it was let to Thomas Morley, who
acquired the head lease in 1791. (fn. 9) In 1796 Thomas Smith
sold to John Morley of Chelsea, floorcloth manufacturer, and William Frogatt a large plot of land on the
south side of King's Road behind the new houses on the
east side of Smith Street and south of a house already
leased to Morley; (fn. 10) Morley was rated in 1795 for a
factory in King's Road. (fn. 11) By 1813 two large factory
buildings had been erected there, (fn. 12) and Morley is said to
have opened the Chelsea factory in 1794. In 1799
Morley's business was taken over by Thomas Downing,
who carried on making floorcloth at the Knightsbridge
factory until it was demolished in 1823 to make way for
Lowndes Terrace. (fn. 13)
In 1825 Thomas Downing acquired a 99-year lease of
part of the ground of Thomas Davey's nursery on the
north side of King's Road, opposite the Royal Avenue,
with buildings he had erected on it, (fn. 14) and the premises
were conveyed to Thomas and his sons Charles and
George as partners in his business. The partnership was
dissolved in 1832 and Thomas (d. 1834) made over the
property to his sons. Charles died in 1833 and in 1835
his widow and sons sold their share to George
Downing. (fn. 15) The factory on the south side of King's Road
had been demolished by 1836 and became the site of
Wellington Square. (fn. 16) George Downing let land fronting
College Place for 5 houses and a Wesleyan chapel in
1838, (fn. 17) and a small parcel at the south-west corner was
let to J. Weeks & Company, horticultural builders. (fn. 18)
George (d. 1859) was succeeded in the business by his
only son George Francis Downing. (fn. 19) The factory was
destroyed by fire in 1873 and the business closed. (fn. 20) In
1878 G.F. Downing let the factory, at nos 120-2 King's
Road, to George Glover & Company for 45 years, on
which they opened a gas meter works; part of the site was
sublet to Russell Depository and James Stocken, carriage
builder. (fn. 21) In 1922 Thomas Crapper & Company bought
part of the site, no. 120 King's Road. (fn. 22)
Paper-Stainers
Paper-staining, the creation of wallpaper, was another
industry which benefitted from the expansion of
house-building in London, and Chelsea had several
firms in the 18th and 19th centuries, one of them quite
long-lived. James Woodmason of Chelsea,
paper-stainer, is said to have established a stained-paper
factory in 1786 in Whitelands House, at the southern
end of Marlborough Road, in partnership with the
Dutch Eckhardt brothers, (fn. 23) but this is not substantiated
by the existing evidence. Woodmason was in business at
an unknown location in Chelsea in 1787, but sold his
factory to Peter Bowers and William Harwood in 1789, (fn. 24)
and the business was carried on under the name Messrs
Harwood & Company, still trading in 1820. (fn. 25) Antoine
George Eckhardt and his brother Frans Frederick are
also said to have established their own new factory at
Whitelands or Blacklands House in 1791, producing
painted silk, varnished linen, cloth, and paper for
furnishing rooms. The linen was painted by hand, by 40
girls at a time, aged 8 to 14 years. (fn. 26) The Eckhardt
brothers went bankrupt in 1796, (fn. 27) and the stained-paper
factory at Whitelands was run by Messrs Hinchliffe and
Company in 1829. (fn. 1) In 1878 Scott, Cuthbertson &
Company occupied Whitelands making, and hanging,
wallpaper. (fn. 2) Timothy Wilsher, who had been apprenticed
to Woodmason in 1787, built up his own business as a
paper stainer, including a contract to supply and hang
the paper for several new houses in and around College
Street. (fn. 3) William Plees of Chelsea took out a patent for the
manufacture of veined or mottled paper and making
imitation leather by treating paper, in 1802. (fn. 4) John
Goodson had a paper-staining factory in Ann Place in
1851. (fn. 5)
Crapper & Company
Thomas Crapper (1836-1910), notable as a manufacturer and supplier of sanitary goods and improver of the
syphons used in flushing toilets, came to Chelsea from
Yorkshire c. 1850 as an apprentice to a master plumber. (fn. 6)
In 1861 he set up Thomas Crapper & Company in
Robert Street, and in 1866 moved to the larger premises
called Marlborough Works, (fn. 7) nos 50 & 52 Marlborough
Road (later Draycott Avenue). He took a partner, Robert
Marr Wharam, whose financial skills added to Crapper's
enterprise built up a successful firm. Described, as many
plumbers were, as lead merchants in 1878, (fn. 8) the works
had 'manufacturing sanitary engineers' emblazoned
across the building by 1892. Part of Crapper's success
was due to his promotion of the use of plumbed-in bathroom fittings and his introduction of the concept of a
showroom. Sanitary fittings, especially WCs, were
subject to enormous prudery and whispered consultations with architects; Crapper installed plate-glass
windows at the front of the Marlborough Works with
toilet pans prominently displayed to a shocked public,
who claimed that ladies would faint at the sight. His firm
was also successful because of the quality of its manufactures and its service in fitting them using the best engineers. In the 1880s the firm was invited to supply and
install new fittings for the bathrooms and cloakrooms at
Sandringham and all the plumbing and drainage work
involved, the first of a succession of royal warrants.
Thomas Crapper retired in 1904, and was succeeded by
his partner Robert Wharam and his nephew George
Crapper. The comprehensive nature of the work they
undertook can be gauged by a description of the business
in 1905: brass founders and engineers; manufacturers of
sanitary appliances, heating apparatus, electrical,
hydraulic, steam and gas fittings; and lead, zinc, glass,
colour, and varnish merchants. (fn. 9) In 1905 the firm negotiated for a site at nos 111-15 (odd) Fulham Road, near
the corner of College Street, on which they were going to
build a new showroom and warehouse, possibly to
replace the Marlborough Works, but the agreement was
cancelled in 1907, (fn. 10) and later that year they acquired no.
120 King's Road, a large house in the south-east corner
of George Glover & Company's Ranelagh Works, part of
Downing's factory site. This attractive 3-storeyed house
with its substantial portico became their showroom, and
the Marlborough Works were retained for the manufacturing side. The company purchased the freehold in
1922 with some additional property behind, (fn. 11) and
extensions were made to give more showroom and
storage space. All operations were based at King's Road
by the late 1950s, the Marlborough Works having been
sold, and the company was run by Wharam's son,
Robert G. Wharam. On his retirement he sold the firm in
1966 to nearby rivals John Bolding & Sons, who closed
the showroom at no. 120, sold off the property, and
moved Crapper & Company to their own premises in
Davies Street (Westm.). Thomas Crapper & Company
was later revived as an independent firm, and in 2003
was manufacturing high-quality period bathroom
fittings from its base at Stratford-upon-Avon (Warws.).
Thurston & Company
John Thurston founded Thurston & Company, billiard
table and cabinet makers, in Newcastle Street (St
Clement Danes) in 1799, (fn. 12) and is credited as the creator
of the modern billiard table, introducing innovations
such as the slate-bed table and rubber cushions. In 1857
Thurston's obtained a 99-year lease of no. 33 Cheyne
Walk, initially using the premises for a warehouse in
conjunction with the adjoining riverside wharf.
Although it continued to maintain a central London
office, the factory was moved in 1872 to the Cheyne
Walk site. It remained there until 1962, moving out of
Chelsea when the land was sold for redevelopment.
RETAIL TRADE
The shops which served Chelsea's residents expanded as
the built-up area increased. Originally the old village had
the main concentration of local shops, in Church Lane
and along the riverside, but after King's Road became
public in 1830 more shops were built along its length,
and other concentrations developed along Marlborough
Road (renamed Draycott Avenue in 1907) (fn. 13) and at the
Knightsbridge end of Sloane Street. Until the second half
of the 20th century, Chelsea's shops were mainly local,
supplying food, drink, and basic commodities, such as
ironmongery and haberdashery, to local residents.
King's Road also had a concentration of retail outlets for
nursery gardeners from the late 18th century, (fn. 1) and later
some light industrial and manufacturing premises. The
changing use of King's Road is encapsulated by the
history of nos 120 and 122, the site of several well-known
firms mentioned above. They were the premises of a
well-known nursery gardener and florist, Thomas
Davey, by 1798, (fn. 2) Thomas Downing's floorcloth factory
from 1825, (fn. 3) with a small parcel at the south-west corner
let to J. Weeks & Company, horticultural builders, (fn. 4) and
up to 1878 the house at no. 120 was let to Dr F. Palmer,
surgeon. (fn. 5) Downing's factory closed in 1873, (fn. 6) and in 1878
the site was leased to George Glover for his gas meter
works. Part of the site was sub-let to the Russell Depository company, which was followed by the Army and
Navy Depository, and part at the northern end with the
access into College Place was let to James Stocken,
carriage builder. In 1903 part was leased to Joshua Binns,
timber merchants. Glover's, which had bought the freehold of the site, sold no. 120 King's Road, an attractive
mid-Victorian villa, in 1922 to the sanitary engineers,
Thomas Crapper and Company, who opened a showroom there; (fn. 7) they remained until 1966. (fn. 8) The whole site
was soon afterwards rebuilt, and in 2003 the street front
of nos 120 and 122 were occupied by a women's fashion
boutique and a branch of a well-known fashion chain.
Figure 55:
Sloane Street looking north to Knightsbridge in the early 20th century
Marlborough Road/Draycott Avenue was until the
1930s a busy local shopping centre. In 1855 the southern
end of the road had a cowkeeper, Charles Wray, in
John's Place, and a number of tradesmen connected
with building trades, as well as shopkeepers. (fn. 9) In 1878 it
had numerous small tradesmen and services, including
newsagent, bootmaker, furniture dealer, hairdresser,
baker, dairy, pork butcher, fried fish dealer, coffee room,
gas fitter, beer retailer, zinc worker. Some larger
premises were also dotted along the street, such as Crapper's works, (fn. 10) the National Penny Bank, a board school,
the Free Registry Office for Young Servants, the Aerated
Bread Company, and London Parcels Delivery
Company. There were also some private residents,
mainly at the southern end. (fn. 11) In the 1870s the street was
also something of a centre for drapery. In 1871 Peter
Jones started his drapers' shop in two buildings in
Marlborough Road, moving to King's Road in 1877. In
1877 Joseph Cox at nos 163-5 described himself as 'the
People's Draper' and invited ladies to recommend his
business to their servants, being the cheapest house in
the neighbourhood for drapery, hosiery, haberdashery,
flannels, and blankets. Marlborough Road was referred
to as in Brompton, which was much nearer than
Chelsea, still associated with the village near the river. (fn. 12)
In 1902 Cox's premises had become the drapers' shop of
Jones Brothers, who by 1934 were called fancy drapers
and occupied nos 159-65. (fn. 13)
Occupation of Marlborough Road remained substantially the same in 1902, but by 1934 the redevelopment
of the street and adjoining areas had brought many
changes. Blocks of flats and houses for middle-class residents had been built at the southern end, and the block
between Green and Ives streets now contained a telephone exchange. Some smaller premises north of the
council school had been replaced by Harrods'
5-storeyed depository building of 1911, and Jones
Brothers covered three shops near the Fulham Road end.
By 1942 nearly all the east side had been cleared of
smaller premises, except for the D'Oyley Arms public
house; the block between Denyer and Mossop was
occupied by a new service building for John Lewis and
Peter Jones department store, with a building for the
Inland Revenue north of Mossop Street. On the west side
smaller local shops were limited to the part of the street
north of Ixworth Place. (fn. 1)
Sloane Street in 1855 was little different from the other
retail areas of Chelsea, with shops providing a range of
goods and services for local inhabitants, several private
residents, some lodging-houses, and a range of other
occupants such as the Cadogan Hotel at no. 75, Hans
Town School of Industry, Cadogan baths, and some
private schools. (fn. 2) By 1902, however, although it still had a
few food shops, Sloane Street now had a more distinctive
profile. Between Knightsbridge and Pont Street the most
dominant group of occupants were dressmakers,
furriers, milliners, and ladies' tailors, an extension of the
shopping area of Knightsbridge. South of Pont Street,
with Cadogan Gardens on the east side, there was a high
proportion of private residents, many titled, and professional men such as surgeons and dentists. (fn. 3) This profile
was altered a little by 1934 by the erection of several large
blocks of flats, though most at the northern end of the
street had shops on the ground floor. (fn. 4)
Later 20th Century
A wide variety of shops still existed in the borough of
Chelsea in 1947, when there were 52 dairies, 32 street
traders, 71 public houses, 29 butchers, 18 bakers, 13
fishmongers, 44 grocers, 46 confectioners, 37 greengrocers, and 23 canteens and clubs. However, the broader
social dimension can be seen in the large number, 198,
of restaurants and clubs in the borough. (fn. 5)
In the 1960s, however, the King's Road led a new retail
movement with the arrival of the fashion boutique, and
Chelsea became the epicentre of a great cultural change in
Britain, usually referred to as the 'Swinging Sixties'.
Although Mary Quant's first boutique, Bazaar, opened at
no. 138A King's Road in 1955 and led a trend for those
aware of her clothes, it was the mass-production of
youthful fashion by Quant's Ginger Group and other
innovative young designers in the early 1960s which led
to the flood of boutiques opening in King's Road together
with coffee bars and cafés providing for the new, young
market. (fn. 6) Although Bazaar closed in 1968, (fn. 7) Quant made
the new styles - the mini-skirt, hot pants, tights - available for the mass market by introducing the Chelsea Girl
boutiques across the country, but King's Road remained
the mecca for the young and style conscious in the 60s
and 70s. (fn. 8) Boutiques sprang up, and property prices,
especially at the east end of the road, soared: a shoe shop
worth £4,500 in 1950, was worth £30,000 in 1967, and
£45,000 in 1969. (fn. 9) A traders' association was formed for
King's Road in 1970, describing itself as 'London's
newest and most exciting'; its members claimed to form
the élite of British fashion in clothing, restaurants, and
antiques. One of its objects, however, was protection
against crime: fashionableness had brought a lot of
shop-lifting and bad cheques, and the association was
considering having its own security guards. (fn. 10) By the early
1970s, planning applications for shops had reached 250 a
year and it was noted that the character of King's Road
had changed dramatically over the previous thirty years
from 'daily shops to an almost unbroken series of
so-called boutiques'; over the same period the number of
restaurants and clubs had also increased dramatically. (fn. 11)
The old-established traders disappeared, replaced by
supermarkets, large stores, dress shops and boutiques,
which served not local people but the whole of London as
well as foreign visitors. (fn. 12) Chelsea also became the focus
for other innovative shops, such as Habitat, which
Terence Conran first opened at no. 77 Fulham Road,
between the northern end of Draycott and Sloane
avenues in 1964, moving to the former Gaumont cinema
at no. 206 King's Road in 1973. (fn. 13) By the 1980s, art
galleries had also become a regular feature of King's Road
and Sloane Square, forced out of central London locations by rising property prices. (fn. 14)
Figure 56:
United Dairies, no. 46 Old Church Street, in 1951; a private house in 2003
Figure 57:
Duke of York Square, on part of the Royal Military Asylum site, opened in 2003
King's Road's fashionableness accelerated locally a
national trend which was changing the way people
shopped and reducing the viability of small local shops
and thereby their range and number. The demand for
sites in and around King's Road quickly pushed up
prices beyond the reach of ordinary local shops, as
Chelsea became an increasingly fashionable and socially
exclusive area in which to live and to shop. By the end of
the 20th century the era of individualistic but cheap
fashion had gone, and in King's Road quirky boutiques
had been largely replaced by retail outlets for designers,
and branches of leading fashion chains, together with
the ubiquitous coffee bars and well-known high-street
names. A few individual, but expensive, fashion shops
remained, such as the unprepossessing shoe shop of
Manolo Blahnik just off King's Road in Church Street,
and other shops selling antiques, furnishings, and, at the
World's End, bric-a-brac. The independent shops and
restaurants which remained were constantly under pressure, however. In 2003 the individualism which had
marked out Chelsea, especially King's Road, since the
1960s was said to be in its 'death throes' as the few
remaining independent boutiques, restaurants, and
specialist shops were threatened again by rent rises
which only large chains would be able to afford. (fn. 1)
The pressure to move retailing upmarket had also
effected Draycott Avenue. By the end of the 20th century
the shops at the northern end, like the adjoining parts of
Fulham Road and Walton Street, served a well-off and
fashionable clientele with the remaining older houses
converted into shops for leading designers, antiques, and
expensive furnishings, and into restaurants and cafés.
Peter Jones's warehouse had been converted into an
offshoot of its department store as PJ2, housing its
furnishing and interior design departments; the Harrods
depository of 1911 had been converted into shops and a
café. The Michelin building, no. 81 Fulham Road, refurbished and restored in 1985-6 by Conran Roche and
YRM, housed a restaurant, the Conran shop, and offices. (fn. 2)
In Sloane Street, already a concentration of expensive
fashion shops, the late 20th century brought fewer changes
but a greater number of designer shops. Retail outlets were
grouped at the northern and southern ends of the street,
and were mainly occupied by top designers and expensive
interior furnishers. The demand for smart and attractive
shopping facilities was also being met at the beginning of
the 21 (fn. st) century by the redevelopment of the former Duke
of York's Headquarters (the Royal Military Asylum). The
boys had moved out of the Asylum in 1909 and the buildings and grounds had been used by territorial army units; (fn. 3)
the grounds had also provided playing fields for a variety
of clubs, schools, and army sports teams. (fn. 4) The Ministry of
Defence sold the site to Cadogan Estates c. 2000, and the
part between the original Asylum buildings and shops in
King's Road was redeveloped with a new shopping area
called Sloane Place, whose occupants included several
leading fashion names, and west of that a public paved
area laid open to King's Road with fountains and a café,
called Duke of York Square, all opened in 2003. (fn. 5)
Peter Jones
Peter Jones was the one major department store entirely
within Chelsea's boundary. (fn. 6) Peter Jones opened his own
draper's shop in 1871 in two shops in Marlborough
Road (Draycott Avenue), possibly nos 163 and 165. In
1877 he moved his shop to nos 4 and 6 King's Road, on
the north side near Sloane Square and by 1878 occupied
nos 2, 4, and 6. (fn. 1) This strategic position allowed him to
attract custom from Hans Town and Belgravia, and by
1884 his drapery had expanded to absorb two neighbouring shops, and by the end of the 1880s he had
acquired a further ten premises on the Kings Road and
Symons Street. The miscellaneous collection of buildings was replaced in 1889 by a five-storeyed building of
red Mansfield stone and red Fareham brick with a green
slate roof and a corner turret; it was the first such store to
be lit by electricity. The grand rebuilding of what had
once been a draper's reflected the changing clientele of
the shop and its area: Jones's earliest customers had been
largely from Chelsea's artisan population, but by 1890
the area near Sloane Square was filled by upper- and
middle-class residents, for whom the rebuilt store was
designed. (fn. 2) Jones died in 1905, and the store was sold in
1906 to another draper, John Lewis, who handed it over
to his son, Spedan Lewis, in 1914. As chairman of Peter
Jones, Spedan put into practice his democratic ideas
including staff involvement and profit sharing, which
became the foundation of the John Lewis Partnership.
By the 1930s the store also occupied the public house
and other buildings facing Sloane Square and in 1932 a
new building was designed by J.A. Slater & A.H. Moberly
and William Crabtree with C.H. Reilly as consultant to
replace the 1889 building. It was built 1935-7, one of the
first examples of the use of the curtain wall in England
and one of the most elegant, with a continuous run of
glass curving along the King's Road façade. An extension
of 1937 linked the King's Road section with the Cadogan
Gardens section, enlarged at the back in 1965. (fn. 3) In 2000 a
£100M redevelopment of the Grade II*-listed building
was begun, under the design of J. McAslan & Partners.
Some departments were moved to the shop's warehouse
in Draycott Avenue, called PJ2, to facilitate the work,
during which the store remained open. The centre of the
site was demolished and replaced by a large central
window-lit atrium with escalators linking all the floors,
which opened in 2002; the entire work was scheduled for
completion at the end of 2004. (fn. 4)
Figure 58:
Shops in King's Road in 1970, looking towards the curving façade of Peter Jones