Lebus, Louis & Harris (1887-1969)
Lebus, Louis & Harris
London; furniture makers (fl.1887-1969)
Louis Lebus was from Breslau, Germany, and arrived in Hull in the 1840s, where he set up business as a cabinet maker. His son Harris was born in 1852. The family moved to London in 1857 and settled at 12 Church Lane (now Whitchurch Lane) Whitechapel, moving in 1862 to 24 Church Lane. In 1866 Sol Lebus was born and in 1875 the family moved to 37 Wellclose Square, Stepney. The business of Louis Lebus gradually increased and in 1877 he took 38 Wellclose Square and remained in 37 & 38 until his death in 1879 at the age of 62. In 1873 Harris Lebus quarrelled with his father and went to work for an antique dealer named D. L. Isaacs, returning after a year to the family business. In 1880 the workshop was moved from No. 38 to No. 8 ½ and 9 Wellclose Square. At this time the workshops had no machinery with everything made by hand apart from a few parts machined outside and bought in. About 30 men were employed and all types of domestic furniture made. 90% of his workforce were ‘greeners’ - unskilled Jewish workers.

Harris Lebus billhead (1912). Bedford Collection: MS 2241/3/1/2/388. Image credit Leeds University Library
In 1885 Harris, then aged 33, and his 19 year old brother Sol bought an 80 year lease on 70-72 Tabernacle Street, in 1887 & 1889 the firm took an 80 year lease on 19, 20, 21 & 22 Paradise Place & 21 Whitfield Street, Finsbury and in 1890 in addition took on 2, 3 & 4 Paradise Place and 13, 14 & 15 Whitfield Street. On 29 September 1892 Harris made Sol an official business partner, with Harris owning 192/240 of the company and Sol 48/240. The firm produced furniture at the cheaper end of the market and by the end of the 19th century Lebus was the largest furniture making business in Great Britain. At the 1888 Select Committee Hearings on Sweated Labour in the Furniture Trade, Harris Lebus stated that he employed 190 in his workshop, of whom eight were unskilled lads for cleaning and running errands. He sold his furniture to Maples and was paid entirely by piece-work, and although Maples paid 9d a day to their cabinet makers and joiners, he might pay 9 ½ - 10 ½ d to his good workers.
About 1890 Harris and his wife Sarah, whom he had married in 1878, moved to a house in City Road. Sol lived with them and became a partner in the firm. In 1892 Sol Lebus married Esther Wharman and had two sons, Louis Sol and Simon (Bob) and a daughter, Helene. Louis and Simon became partners in the firm in 1923 & 1926 respectively.
In 1894 a fire destroyed most of the factory in Paradise Place and alternative premises were taken temporarily in Paul Street. When the Paradise Place works were rebuilt additional premises were also taken at 62-68 Tabernacle Street, all opened in 1901. The area of the factory and showrooms was 121,000 sq. ft and a license was obtained to erect a bridge connecting the second floors of Tabernacle Street and Paradise Place. The showrooms were spread over 4 floors with electric lighting and a sprinkler system by 1900 (illus. Smith & Rogers (2006), p. 28). By this date the firm employed nearly 1000 men with a staff of about 45 and their production consisted of mainly bedroom suites and some sideboards. There was also a moderate sized upholstery factory situated at the rear premises of Tabernacle Street (illus. Smith & Rogers (2006), p. 17) where men and women were employed, but most of the frames were bought in and the products manufactured in the traditional way. Morocco leather and Rexine chairs were much in vogue and club-type chairs, drawing room suites, sofas and box ottomans made. In 1896 there were five travelling salesmen covering England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
Most of the woods - satin walnut, oak, ash, walnut and mahogany - came from the USA, and the main veneer used was mahogany. Cargoes of Cuban mahogany were delivered to the London Docks and examined by Sol Lebus at Messrs. Esdale or Bow Saw Mills. As the price of Cuban mahogany increased, large quantities were brought in from British Honduras and then from West Africa. In the workshops the cabinet makers made their objects from start to finish with polishing, fitting and touching done by craftsmen within their own benchrooms. There were two boilers, two engines and basic woodworking machinery at Tabernacle Street. Mr Archer was the inhouse designer, producing sketches from which the partners would select for making. Archer retired in 1919 and then a new designer, Mr Kinsley, was engaged who remained until 1951.
Lebus supplied Maples with 11-14% of their turnover and indeed a salesman visited Maples daily to discuss their orders. Robson of Newcastle was the first provincial customer, followed by Ray & Miles of Liverpool. There was also a Mr Dee of Cork, who visited Tabernacle Street two or three times a year to purchase goods. Harris & Sol Lebus also bought in goods, including china cabinets, bookcases, bureaux, writing tables, occasional tables, work tables, palm stands, hall stands, hall seats, fire screens, music stools, cake stands, shaving stands, flat topped desks, office chairs, overmantels, Chesterfield sofas, drop-end (Knole) settees, heavy Jacobean dining suites with court cupboards and some bedroom and dining room furniture to augment their own production. One of the Lebus sub-contractors was probably Walter Elliott.
Harris Lebus and his four eldest children made their first trip to the USA in 1893, when Harris made an arrangement with Messrs. Gunn of Grand Rapids to import their roll top desks (in later years these desks were manufactured by Lebus in London) and he also agreed a contract for sequoia (Californian redwood) for which Lebus was the first British importer. The firm opened a showroom in the Rue de la Roquette, Paris in 1900 and later another premises in the Fauberg St Antoine.
In order to expand and mechanise production further, in January 1900 Harris Lebus purchased a 13 ½ acre site in Tottenham Hale, where the architect Clifford Tee Gale built a new factory for the firm. The Lebus firm moved to the new premises in 1903, at which time Sol Lebus was in charge and it employed 1000 furniture makers and 45 office staff. This included a large polishing shop staffed by women with a male foreman, illus. in a 1912 photograph in Massil (1997), pl. 3.
The Graham Gadd Archive (NMS) includes five bills dated 1890-1908, for H. Lebus, wholesale cabinet makers. Within this period there were three different billheads (above) from varying departments and these give various numbers in Tabernacle Street and the Finsbury Steam Cabinet Works, Tottenham Hale.
In 1893 Ambrose Heal was sent to learn about the mass production of furniture at Lebus. According to Oliver Heal (2014), Ambrose was so disgusted by what he saw that ‘he left before lunch-time on the first day, never to return’. However his thoughts on the company did not stop him from using Lebus as manufacturers of bedroom suites early in the 20th century; in 1905 Lebus supplied Heal’s with thirteen different ranges of bedroom suites, in 1910 nineteen different ranges, in 1910 twenty five, in 1925 two and in 1930 three.
Harris Lebus was one of the founders of the Furniture Trades Benevolent Association and he contributed £1,000 to this. He died in 1907 and his obituary in The Cabinet Maker stated that he was the first to ‘press the wonderful carving machinery into the service of woodworking’ and implied that it was the Universal carving machine which was used. A major contract just prior to the First World War was for the supply of fine inlaid mahogany furniture for the staterooms of an entire deck of the new Cunard liner ‘Aquitania’. Other work pre-war included contract work for Waring & Gillow, French walnut bedroom furniture for the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, towel cabinets for the initial Towel Company, thousands of bookcases for the educational Book Company, bookcases for Encyclopaedia Britannica, large numbers of gramophone cabinets for HMV and furniture for Colney Hatch.
The firm refused to negotiate with unions until the late 1930s as it believed their workers were paid above minimum rates and enjoyed excellent working conditions. The firm survived the two World Wars, moving into Utility furniture, and in July 1947 the company was floated with Sir Herman Lebus becoming Chairman and Managing Director, L. S. Lebus Assistant Managing Director and Anthony & Oliver members of the Board. Louis & S. H. (Bob) Lebus retired at this time. A trade catalogue of 1930s showed an aerial view of the vast Finsbury Works, Tottenham, with views of the main showrooms in Tabernacle Street, and regional showrooms at 33/37 Great Ancoats, Manchester, 114/116 Great Hampton Street, Birmingham, and Mercat Building, 5 Saltmarket, Glasgow (illus. Smith & Rogers (2006), p.48). The company finally closed in 1969.
Sources: L. S. Lebus, A History of Harris Lebus 1840-1947’ unpublished manuscript (1965), placed in the Department of Furniture, Textiles & Fashion, V&A; Kirkham, Mace, Porter, Furnishing the World. The East London Furniture Trade 1830-1980 (1987); Hugh Barty-King, Maples, Fine Furnishers, A Household Name for 150 Years (1992); Edwards, Victorian Furniture. Technology and Design. (1993); Massil, Immigrant Furniture Workers in London 1881-1939 (1997); Massil, Immigrant Furniture Workers in London, 1881-1939. A Supplement (2000); Smith & Rogers, Behind the Veneer. The South Shoreditch Furniture Trade and its Buildings (2006); Heal, Sir Ambrose Heal and the Heal Cabinet Factory 1897-1939 (2014); Paul Collier, A Romance with the Furniture Trade (2020); Lebus furniture; Graham Gadd Archive (NMS).
Occupation