The Story of the Traditional Shop Awning It is the usual early morning and most of the shopkeepers should be preparing for the day by laying out the canvas awning over their shop front. But not anymore. A regular sight once, nowadays the Victorian shop canopy has almost disappeared from the business streets.
Regent Street front in 1827 (image source) The few that exist are often used as shading for outdoor cafes, or by an upmarket retailer who is trying to look a bit classy. The traditional Victorian style awning was such an iconic image of the Victorian and Edwardian high street. But it had a very short-lived existence. And its rise to dominate the streets coincided with the arrival of retail stores and improvements in glass manufacturing. The idea of a busy street lined with many shops is not an old development. Although trading in markets and fairs by way of open stalls had long been done since ancient times, it was not really until the 1600s that shops started to do business along main roads away from the designated market area. Formal shop fronts usually have an open area of the shop being enclosed by a simple screen or windows (if shop owner is rich).
It was not until the 18th century that shops really began to improve, as the cost of glass became affordable for use in shop windows. In the 19th century, shops began having recessed doors and flat frontages using the newly developed larger sheets of glass to show off the goods. The larger sheets of glass became more popular because the taxes on glass production were abolished in 1845. The use of large sheets of shop glass also led to the popularity of use of Victorian awnings, also known as canopy blinds. These were made to shade the shop goods from the sun and also protect from the wind and rain. The Victorian awnings were usually fixed, with poles supporting the fronts – but later in the 19th century retractable awnings emerged, which gave retailers an option of allowing daylight into the shops on cloudy days. As electric lighting didn’t exist yet, so the ability to retract the awnings on cloudy days was a relief to the retailer. One of the first companies to maufacture the awnings was the London-based Deans Blinds of Putney, founded by Tom Dean, but later taken over by his brother John Dean. The company started out supplying canvas bags used as water carriers by British forces across the Victorian Empire. John also then went on designing the traditional awning in 1894 that is now the famous symbol of the Victorian high street.
Traditional Victorian awning (c) Radiant Blinds Ltd In the 2nd half of the 19th century, these traditional awnings grew in popularity. Before, most awnings had fixed frames. The common way to retract the covering was to manually roll it up the rafters. Both storefront and window awnings had hinged extension arms where they joined the facade. The arms were lowered to extend the awning or raised to retract the awning using a simple rope and pulley system.
Fascia awning (c) Radiant Blinds Ltd The framework had a canvas that remained attached, so retractable awnings gave a more flexible approach to shading. Shop owners could manually adjust the amount of awning coverage depending on the weather. When the sun shines brightly, the awning could be deployed easily. Shop owners could quickly retract the awning against the building wall where it was protected from wind gusts in case of sudden storms. This image of the traditional awning was to become the symbolic image of the English high street for decades, just as photography was gaining popularity. It was maybe this early photography capturing street scenes that made that image in our minds of what Victorian streets looked like – even though the Victorian era existed before the time the photographs took place.
Another old pic of Regent Street (pic source) Traditional canvas sun blinds were used always on shops to prevent the sunlight from spoiling the goods on display. However, today UV glass can be installed to prevent that. Blinds were for a while mainly used by shops selling fresh fruits and vegetables when sunlight can cause the items on display to spoil and become unusable. Nowadays, modern air conditioning systems rendered the sun blinds almost obsolete. You might think that shops no longer need the canopies outside their front spaces, yet many still have quite modern, often plastic coated canopies. These are the popular “Dutch blinds�, an eye-sore upon the high street with their mostly garish designs and eye-catching colours that stand out. They started appearing since the 1950s and have become popular ever since.
Dutch blind (c) Radiant Blinds Ltd They are so common in modern retail that a lot of councils are now frowning upon it, and asking shops, particularly in historical value areas to return to the Victorian style awnings. In part they are disliked for their unusual appearance, but also because they cannot be easily retracted. So while Victorian awnings gave way to Dutch, and are now ignored, there is a resurging interest in their return. Councils now see the Victorian awning as a historical asset to be encouraged, especially when renovating an old high street. The repaired awnings now shelter beverage drinkers out for a break. There is also the awareness of the environmental impact of air conditioners in shops — not to mention the electric bills needed running them — and long canopies are still quite good at shading the shop windows and keeping the heat down. And as noted before, they are a shelter to the community when it rains. With luck, the decline of the Victorian awning could soon be stopped, and the high street a bit more interesting place again.
Sources: https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/Resources/PDF/D/Dalmellington-CAA-Appendix-C-Part-1Dalmellington-Historic-Shop-Appraisal.pdf https://www.islington.gov.uk///~/media/sharepoint-lists/public-records/environmentalprotection/ businessplanning/policies/20112012/20120303islingtonshopfrontdesignguide
https://planning.islington.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00464456.pdf https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/traditional-windows-care-repair-upgrading/ heag039-traditional-windows-revfeb17/ https://www.nps.gov/tps/how-to-preserve/briefs/44-awnings.htm https://content.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-shopping-parades/heag116hopping-parades-iha.pdf https://sydenham.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13467 https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/regeneration/regeneration-project-cricklewood https://www.trafford.gov.uk/planning/strategic-planning/docs/March2016CAA-CAMP/caa-camp-oldmarket-place-spd5.3a.pdf Hajdamach, Charles R., British Glass 1800 – 1914. The Antique Collectors Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1991.