Burtons

The company was founded by Sir Montague Burton in Chesterfield in 1903 under the name of The Cross-Tailoring Company. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1929 by which time it had 400 stores, factories and mills.

From 1923, Burton began acquiring freehold sites to build its own custom designed stores. Prominent corner sites were preferred and the shops often moved a few doors along the same street in order to acquire the corner site. Leeds-based architect Harry Wilson was hired at this time and developed the Burton “house style” building design which was Art Deco in inspiration. In 1931 Burton took over Wilson’s practice to make it the in-house architecture department. Wilson was replaced as chief architect by Nathaniel Martin in 1937.