The first house in what would become Savile Row was "a fine House and Ground", built in 1674 on the site of what is now No. 1, and occupied by a series of
nobles until it was demolished in 1730 in preparation for the laying out of the houses on the east of Savile Row in 1731. as part of the development of the
Burlington Estate, and is named after
Lady Dorothy Savile, wife of the
3rd Earl of Burlington. Maddox's land, consisting mainly of fruit and other trees covering what would become Savile Row and the streets around, some of which is still owned by his descendants as the Pollen Estate.
Nineteenth century Initially, the street was occupied by military officers and their wives, along with politicians:
William Pitt the Younger wrote letters from the street when it was called Savile Street; Irish-born playwright and MP,
Richard Brinsley Sheridan lived at 14 Savile Row from 1813–1816, till his death.
Jules Verne had
Phileas Fogg, his lead character in
Around the World in Eighty Days, live at 7 Savile Row – a "fashionable address" and "the former home of
Sheridan". It may have been the affluent and influential nature of the residents of Savile Row that first attracted dealers in luxury goods to the area. Tailors started to take premises around Savile Row in the late 18th century, first in
Cork Street, about 1790, then by 1803 in Savile Row itself. As tailoring moved into the street, the house frontages were altered to bring natural light into the tailors' working area with the addition of glass frontages and
lightwells.
David Livingstone was laid out in state at the society's headquarters, before being buried in
Westminster Abbey. In 1871, shortly after the Royal Geographical Society moved into Savile Row, so did the
Savile Club; a
gentlemen's club founded in 1868 as the New Club, occupying rooms overlooking Trafalgar Square; it changed to its current name during its residence at 12 Savile Row, retaining the name when it moved in 1882 to premises in Piccadilly.
Twentieth century Savile Row was extended to
Conduit Street in 1937–38, and by 1939, the Metropolitan Police Station was constructed on the corner of Boyle Street.
Fortress House, an eight-storey block of offices faced with Portland stone, was constructed at 23 Savile Row in 1949–50 and occupied by a series of government ministries, ending with a long period of occupation by
English Heritage until 2006. It was demolished in 2009 and replaced by a new
mixed-use development designed by
Eric Parry, Architects. In July 1968,
the Beatles moved
Apple Corps, their multimedia corporation, into 3 Savile Row. Apple purchased the building on 22June for £500,000 (). A
studio was built in the basement; though it was poorly designed, the Beatles recorded
Let It Be there before a new studio was constructed in 1971 at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. Various artists, including
Badfinger,
Mary Hopkin, and
Marc Bolan recorded in the basement studio until it closed in May 1975. The Beatles' final live performance, known as the "
rooftop concert", was held on the roof of the building, on 30 January 1969, and was recorded for the documentary film
Let It Be; the last words of the band, spoken by
John Lennon as the police stopped the performance, were "I hope we passed the audition." In 1969,
Nutters of Savile Row modernised the style and approach of the traditional tailors; a modernisation which continued in the 1990s with the "New Bespoke Movement", involving the designers
Richard James,
Ozwald Boateng, and
Timothy Everest. With increasing rents and criticisms from
Giorgio Armani of falling behind the times, the number of tailors in Savile Row had declined to 19 in 2006, from approximately 40 in the 1950s. However, tailoring businesses have increased since 2006; as of October 2014, a local online directory listed 44 tailoring and clothing businesses on and around Savile Row. Some tailors had expressed concern in 2005 that an increase in commercial development in the area could lead to the death of the business locally, as tailors, many of whom traditionally manufacture their suits in their premises, in basement studios, could be priced out of the local property market. The Savile Row Bespoke Association was founded in 2004 to protect and develop
bespoke tailoring as practised in Savile Row and the surrounding streets. The member tailors are typically required to put at least 50 hours of hand labour into each two-piece suit. The Association, along with the owners, the Pollen Estate, is working in partnership with
Westminster Council to protect the street's tailoring heritage under the Savile Row SPA (Special Policy Area). The Association objected to the American retailer
Abercrombie & Fitch's plan to open a children's store at 3 Savile Row, concerned that chain stores entering the street would drive up rents, and took part in, what was then, a successful protest in 2012. However, A&F were allowed to move in and set up a children's store in 2013, although it closed by 2021. Starting in 1946, 14 Savile Row was the home of
Hardy Amies which changed ownership several times over the course of its history. In 2018, the company went into administration for a second time, and was attempting to sell its assets in 2019. The Savile Row store was closed in March 2019 and the space taken over by
Hackett in June as its flagship store. ==Architecture==