The architectural development of shops happened at a slow
pace. In his book A History of Building Types, published in 1976,
Nicolaus Pevsner analysed the transformation of architectural styles
in response to social and cultural changes, and their evolution and
different approaches to function, materials or style. Pevsner
specifically focuses on the nineteenth century, a crucial period
for diversification of architecture styles. In the chapter entitled
‘Shops, stores and department stores’,4 he analyses larger stores, such
as arcades or department stores; their emergence had a major effect
on both city patterns and different forms of retail. He also argues that
the boutique and small-scale shops followed a slow development to the
end of the nineteenth century (fig. 3.1). Nevertheless, this evolution is
worth studying, as it is the basis for and explains the main
transformations in nineteenth-century retailing.
There has been some consistency in the way retail architecture has
evolved from two types the market stall and the shop. Historically, the
markets have marked the pattern of most cities, in the form of squares,
but the construction of market stalls has always remained more or less
unchanged. The shop, on the other hand, was not visible in the urban
footprint, but the improvement of this typology has gone through a
series of technological and organizational changes.
Until the late eighteenth century, technological advances aimed
at achieving two goals: a more effective use of available surfaces
(including maximizing their use) and improved ‘communication’
between the spaces (public domain) and the customer. The use of
glass has been a major factor in this development. Used in architecture
since Roman times, glass was not used consistently in retail until the
1200s, when the technique of crown or leaded glass was developed.
This technique, where a glass ball was blown and then flattened,
produced small panes that were joined with lead strips and pieced
together to create windows. Glass remained a great luxury, however.
Since glass at this stage was translucent rather than transparent,
allowing some light to enter the shop premises, it proved insufficient to
change the way goods were displayed. In the late seventeenth century,
the invention of plate glass made it possible to produce large surfaces
(a new process developed in France in 1688, originally for the mirror
industry5). Glazed shop fronts appeared, first in Holland, and
eventually became common in Europe around the 1850s.6 Transparent
shop windows had a profound effect on retail, as they allowed better
lighting of spaces further away from the façade; it then became possible
to use deeper spaces, and to draw clients further into the shop. This
development gained force in the late nineteenth century through the
introduction of gas and electric lighting (fig. 3.2). In addition, the use
of glass fundamentally transformed the construction and layout of
shops, allowing larger openings onto the street and therefore a better
display of goods.
The evolution of other construction materials allowed building
elements to become lighter and stronger, and to perform better.
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