Council of Healing Arts

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Lore & Background

The original Heal's firm was established in 1810 as a feather-dressing for bed mattresses business at 33 Rathbone Place, London by John Harris Heal after moving from Devon. By 1815, Heal had started selling carpets, and in 1818, the business was moved to 203 Tottenham Court Road, London, to be closer to other furniture businesses. The business has operated from its present site in Tottenham Court Road, moving to no. 196 in 1840, the same year that John Harris Heal Junior, son of the founder of the same name, took charge of the company from his widowed mother, Fanny, who had run the firm after the death of her husband in 1833. Between 1833 and 1844, the company had traded as Fanny Heal & Son, before becoming Heal & Son. During this time the company moved into the manufacturing of bedroom furniture, with the business promoting the Heal Bed. Four years after moving to 196 Tottenham Court Road, Heal's added a steam plant for purifying and dressing feathers. Its first purpose-built store was completed in 1854, then one of the largest in London, and was designed by the architect James Morant Lockyer, who had presented the design to RIBA with a photographic elevation in May 1855. The store was expanded further by purchasing the neighbouring premises at 197 and 198 in 1864. By 1866, Heal's was issuing invitations in Charles Dickens's monthly instalments to visit Heal's to see their furniture displayed in room settings, which would later become a standard for all furniture retailers. John Harris Heal Jnr died in 1876, and the business was run by his brother-in-law, Alfred Brewer, along with John Harris son's, Harris and Ambrose. In 1894, Brewer retired, and Ambrose Senior took over as chairman. Ambrose Senior purchased the British patent rights from John Staple, which improved the support of springs in upholstery, and then set up Staples & Co. as an independent bedding factory using these patents, with his son Harold given control.

In Their Own Story

In 1893, Ambrose Heal Junior joined the family firm. Prior to joining the company firm, Ambrose had trained in fine art at both Marlborough College and the Slade School of Fine Art. He embarked on a two-year apprenticeship with cabinet makers, Plucknett of Warwick, before spending a further six months with furniture retailer Graham and Biddle of Oxford Street. Ambrose designed furniture in the Arts and Crafts style, strongly influenced by Ernest Gimson and Edward Barnsley, but used mechanised production so the style became affordable to the middle classes. The change of style led by Ambrose was different than the company's previous offerings of over ornate furniture and Heal's staff reputedly called it Prison furniture. His first designs were released in the catalogue Plain Oak Furniture in 1898, followed by Simple Bedroom in 1899. The designs were initially built by C.R. Ashbee's Guild and School of Handicraft at Mile End Road, until Heal's established their own cabinet making factory in Albert Mews. The Architectural Review described Heal's furniture as a triumph of craftsmanship. By the end of the nineteenth century it was one of the best-known furniture suppliers in London. Ambrose coined the motto When in doubt, innovate and he commissioned imaginative retailing techniques, such as Gleeson White, the editor of The Studio, the arts and crafts magazine, writing a brochure with illustrations by C. H. B. Quennell called A note on simplicity of design in furniture for bedrooms with special reference to some recently produced by Messrs. Heal & Son to advertise Heal's and its products. The company displayed items of their bedroom furniture at the Paris Exposition of 1900, which was awarded two silver medals, with the same display redisplayed at the 1901 Glasgow Exhibition. Heal's displayed simpler designs for the Letchworth Garden City Cheap Cottages Exhibition in 1905.

Reader's Guide

In 1905 Ambrose was made joint managing director of the company, with his brother Ralph, the same year that the business was incorporated into a limited company, and in 1906 he joined the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, displaying his company's bedroom furniture named after seaside resorts, with Ambrose introducing the four poster bed logo to the firm. Heal's 1905 catalogue Simple Bedroom stated that they aimed to unite the many good qualities of the past with inexpensiveness', producing furniture that would 'come within the means of the modest man, and yet be well-constructed, simple, convenient and entirely satisfying to the senses. One of Heal's customers was George Bernard Shaw, who used Ambrose's design no. 117 bedstead from the Fine Feathers range. In 1910, Ambrose Heal Senior gave his son, Harold, ownership of Staple & Co. Ambrose became chairman in 1913 after the death of his father and took over every aspect of the business. Ambrose commissioned his cousin and architect Cecil Claude Brewer in 1914 to design a new store on the central part of the site, which opened in 1917. The new building was colonnaded with large windows to display the company's furniture to passers-by. Heal's signage was designed by Percy Delf Smith, and the Portland stone exterior was decorated with panels advertising bedding, carpets, cabinet makers, and upholsterers created by Joseph Armitage, with the central panel matching the company slogan At the sign of the four poster. Another feature of Brewer's design was a spiral staircase that is still part of the store to this day, providing access across all the retail floors, and the Mansard Gallery, which opened at the top of the building. A new factory was built on the site of the former farmhouse at the rear of the store in Francis Street.

Did You Know?

• Heal's was originally established in 1810 as a feather-dressing for bed mattresses business at 33 Rathbone Place, London.
• The company traded as Fanny Heal & Son between 1833 and 1844, after the founder's widow Fanny ran the firm.
• Heal's first purpose-built store, completed in 1854, was designed by architect James Morant Lockyer and was one of the largest in London.
• Ambrose Heal's first designs were released in the catalogue Plain Oak Furniture in 1898, and staff reputedly called it 'Prison furniture'.
• Heal's was given the Royal Warrant from King George V in 1927 as Makers of Bedsteads and Bedding.