A little flat furnished by Maple,

Maple & Co.
Tottenham Court Road, London, England -- Rue Boudreau, Paris, France
Calle Suipacha, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, most of the major European countries started to realize the vast potential of the South American market and many British, Italian, German and French companies hastened to open branch offices in that continent's capital cities.

By 1905 Maple & Co. of Tottenham Court Road, London, a high-end furniture designer and maker, had already expanded its offices to Paris and by 1914 had opened a large showroom in Buenos Aires at No. 658, Suipacha Street. Very rapidly its reputation spread and the affluent porteño classes rushed to have their houses and apartments and even yachts furnished and appointed by "Mueblería Maple". Needless to say, our Corrientes 348 was just such an establishment.

Stating with certainty where Maple & Co. stood in the world's furniture market during the period under review is rather difficult, however, the following contemporary notes from one of the company's own documents draw a rather vivid picture of its international commercial importance:

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Maple & Co. supply everything that is required for the furnishing and fitting-up of every class of house, whether it be a town or country mansion, a family residence, villa, cottage, residential flat, bachelor's chambers, or otherwise. With a view to the requirements of residential flats or chambers, where space has to be economized, furniture has been designed and made specially, some examples of which are illustrated, but all the varieties can be seen by a visit to the Warehouse.

Parties furnished can be referred to Residents in every part of the Kingdom, as well as in most of the principal cities and fashionable resorts on the Continent, or in the East. Amongst other important orders recently executed on the Continent, the Royal Palace at Buckeburg for H.R.H. the Prince of Schaumberg-Lippe; the Palace of H.H. the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, at Altenstein, in the Thuringian Mountains, and the Villa for H.R.H. the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at Cannes may be mentioned. Also the installation of a suite of Apartments for H.I.M. the Emperor of Russia, at the Alexander Palace, at Tsarskoe Selo, near St. Petersburg; as well as the building and furnishing of an English country house for H.I.H. the Grand Duke Boris at Tsarskoe Selo; the furnishing of a suite of rooms at St. Petersburg in the Palace of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Paul, and another suite in the Vladimir Palace for H.I.H. the Grand Duke Cyril.

Besides these may be named the New Palace at Athens for H.R.H the Duke of Sparta; the Palace at Bangkok for H.I.M. the King of Siam; as well as important orders for H.M. the King of the Belgians, H.H. the Prince of Bulgaria, and H.E. Atabek Azam, Grand Vizier of Persia. Maple & Co. have been also honoured with the commands of King Edward VII for Balmoral and Sandringham.

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*A 1950 publicity release of the Mueblería Maple obtained and made available by Oscar Giovannini, Córdoba, R. Argentina.*

This 1950 publicity release by Mueblería Maple of Suipacha Street is rather interesting particularly its bottom line. By public decree signed by President Juan Perón in 1949, throughout 1950 all official documents and public releases had to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of the Libertador José de San Martín by having printed on them "Año del Libertador General San Martín" (Year of the Liberator General San Martin). Although Maple's publicity release was not an official document, it appears that the mother company in London decided that being on the good side of President Perón would do no harm and included the famous literary requirement in all its public releases throughout the entire year.

Mueblería Maple saw its demise from Suipacha Street in the late 60s. People still living who worked there continue to speak highly and affectionately of those old days: items of furniture were made individually to the personal specifications of the client; list of clients' likes and dislikes were catalogued and maintained religiously; clients were invited to Maple's workroom a number of times during production to see "their" piece of furniture being developed - almost like dropping in for a fitting. Ah, those were the days, my friend!

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Historical Notes on Maple & Co., London

Sir John Blundell Maple, 1st Baronet (1 March 1845 – 24 November 1903) was an English business magnate. He was educated at King’s College London. His father, John Maple, had a small furniture shop in Tottenham Court Road, London, and his business began to develop about the time that his son entered it.

John soon took over the practical management of the company, and expanded it considerably. The firm became a limited liability company with a capital of two million pounds in 1890, with Maple as chairman. He entered Parliament as Conservative member for Dulwich in 1887, serving until his death in 1903, was knighted in 1892, and was made a baronet in 1897. He was the developer of the Great Central Hotel at Marylebone station, which opened in 1899.

He was the owner of Childwick Bury Stud, a large Thoroughbred Horse breeding operation built on his estate. Appearing at first under the name of “Mr. Childwick,” from 1885 onwards he won many important races including two of the British Classics. His public benefactions included a hospital and a recreation ground to the city of St Albans, near which his residence, Childwick Bury Manor, was situated, and the rebuilding, at a cost of more than £50,000, of University College Hospital, London. In 1896, his only surviving daughter married Baron Hermann von Eckardstein of the German Embassy.

The Maples furniture business continued for many years, until it went bankrupt in 1997 and was taken over by the retailer Allders Co. Inc.

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Historical Notes on Mueblería Maple, Buenos Aires

Establishment
The 1904 Catalogue issued by Maple & Co. London makes reference only to the main office and showroom in London and to a branch office and showroom in Paris. There is no mention at all of a second branch in Buenos Aires. Carlos Lenzi wrote his tango in 1924 when the Mueblería Maple was already establish in Buenos Aires. It is therefore deductable that the establishment of Maple in BsAs took place sometime between 1905 and 1924.

Location
Mueblería Maple had at least two locations in Buenos Aires: the main showroom and offices on Suipacha Street and the furniture construction and repair, and storage facilities on Tucumán Street between Larrea y Azcuénaga streets.

*Architecture of the Mueblería Maple on Suipacha Street.*

Ricardo Hodari who lived at the corner of Tucumán and Pasteur streets during his infancy recalls: When I was a kid we had the tramway that travelled every street of the neighbourhood including right in front of our house. It was nice travelling in it. From the 50s to the 70s of the 20th century we could cite the names of all the major businesses in the neighbourhood. On Tucumán Street, between Larrea y Azcuénaga streets, there was a furniture factory called Maple which was very important.

The neighbourhood about which Ricardo Hodari writes in the Barrio Once so called short for the huge railway station Once de Septiembre. The houses in this barrio are modest - certainly not rich - and at the time we are investigating was the main Jewish neighbourhood in Buenos Aires. Here the Jews of the time traded in textiles and silks. As such, the barrio was very much appropriate a place for Maple's furniture construction and repair workshop and storage facilities but certainly not for their main showroom and offices.

End of Operations
An elderly craftsman, who until further permissions are optained must remain nameless, and who worked at the Tucumán workshop, recalls that in 1978 Mueblería Maple went bankrupt and a single individual bought out all the remaining effects, stock and name and continued operating commercially under the original name Maple for a few more years.

My friend and colleague Oscar Giovannini worked in Córdoba during the 80s and had call to visit Buenos Aires rather frequently during the early 80. On these occasions, during his evening constitutional, he vividly recalls Maple's lit showroom on Suipacha Street as late as 1984.

By the time Maple & Co. London went bankrupt in 1997, Mueblería Maple in Buenos Aires had long seized to operate.

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*Harrods-Buenos Aires on Florida Avenue*

In competition with Mueblería Maple.

Harrods-London was established in 1834 in London by Henry Charles Harrod. In1849 it relocated to its present location in Knightsbridge and Harrod's son Charles Digby Harrod built the business into a thriving retail operation selling medicines, perfumes, stationery, fruit, and vegetables. Harrods rapidly expanded, acquired the adjoining buildings, and employed one hundred people by 1880..The store suffered a reversal in fortunes in 1883 when it burnt to the ground but in short order a new building was erected and all purchases to date were honoured. 1889 saw two major innovations: the extending of credit to special customers including members of the Royal Family, and the installation of the first escalator. Nervous customers were offered brandy at the top to 'recover from the experience'.

In 1912, when the Argentine economy was in steady growth and anglo-argentine relations were passing through one of their best periods, Harrods, sporting the slogan Everything for Everyone, inaugurated Harrod-Buenos Aires on Florida Avenue governed by the same Board of Directors and along the same marketing criteria as the mother company. By the early 1920s this department store was financially and reputably equal to Maple, and in the literature of the time, the adjective "splendid" was one often used in describing Harrods.

Although the name Harrods still exists today, the greatness and splendour that made it a competitor to Maple in the 20s, 30s and 40s are no longer. Whereas in the 40s Harrods employed close to 2000 employees, today it is down to a couple of dozens.