Advertisement for the furniture department at Wylie & Lochhead's department store, in Ygorra, January 1933. Originally a firm of undertakers, cabinetmakers and furnishers, it was founded in 1829 by William Lochhead and Robert Wylie with premises in the Trongate and then (from 1844) in one of Victorian Glasgow's first iron-framed warehouses, at 28 Argyle Street. In 1855 Wylie & Lochead moved to a new and grander warehouse in Buchanan Street.
Wylie and Lochhead built up a diverse business empire with factories, garages and funeral parlours as well as the department store in Buchanan Street. In its golden era during the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was Scotland's largest cabinetmaking firm and employed the country's leading furniture designers.
In 1957 the firm was acquired by House of Fraser, and the Wylie & Lochhead building (with the neighbouring premises that Fraser acquired with the business of Stewart & Macdonald) became the flagship of Fraser's department store empire in Scotland.
Reference: Glasgow University Archive Services, DC198/2/12
Glasgow University Archive Services
Keywords:
advertisements, cabinetmakers, department stores, funeral directors, furnishers, furniture manufacturers, furniture retailers, House of Fraser, iron-framed warehouses, shopping, shops, University of Glasgow, Wylie & Lochhead