Liberty of London : Within the Reach of All Classes

Our photograph header is a clip of the Tudor wing of the Liberty department store in London at night, taken October 30, 2008 from the intersection of Great Marlborough Street and Argyll Street.

Harrods in London is better known, Westfield London is newer and KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens) in Berlin may have the preferred selection of foods and wares, but the exterior of the Tudor wing of Liberty is probably the most aesthetically appealing.

As related at The Earthly Paradise, the department store owes its name to Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty:

• "Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty was born in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England
• In 1875, Arthur opened his own store, Liberty and Co. in Regent Street, London....
• In the beginning, Liberty worked with a number of popular fashions, but as time went on the store evolved its own style firmly rooted in the Arts and Crafts tradition. Later it was one of the first places to popularize Art Nouveau (in Italy, Art Nouveau was actually called "Stile Liberty")....
• Liberty of London made Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles much more accessible." [links added]
  

A more detailed version of the life of Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty, including a portrait of the founder, is found at the website pages of the The Archibald Knox Society, where it is written:

• "The store became the most fashionable place to shop in London and iconic liberty fabrics were used for both clothing and furnishings. Its clientele was exotic, and included famous members of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.... Liberty himself said that his store aimed for "the production of useful and beautiful objects at prices within the reach of all classes." [link added]