ROWLEY GALLERY
The Rowley Gallery was established in 1898 by Albert James Rowley (1875-1944) and his wife Emma née Ham (1878-), at 6 High Road, Silver Street, Kensington which in 1909 was renamed and became 140 Church Street. In the mid 1920s, Rowley’s son Laurence Albert James (1903-1970) joined the firm bringing his enthusiasm for furniture design and throughout the 1920s and 1930s The Rowley Gallery became renowned for its inlay wood panels, mirrors and screens as well as for its silver leaf furniture and interiors. By 1933 such was the success of the business that the premises then at 140-142 Church Street were rebuilt but in 1940 the new building was hit by an incendiary bomb during the Second World War and the business moved to their workshop premises at 86 & 87 Campden Street and from that time they concentrated on picture framing. In 1967 Laurence’s son, Christopher Rowley, was responsible for opening new showrooms at the present address, 115 Kensington Church Street, which had direct access to their workshops at 86 & 87 Campden Street. In 1969, The Rowley Gallery was sold to (Alfred) Jonathan Savill (1924-2016) and Jack Rutherford and in 1995 Jonathan Savill sold the business to three employees, Christopher Hamer (1953-), Kai Yin Lam (1962–2020) and Catherine Sarah Williams (1949-), who became directors, carrying on trade as frame makers, gilders, and restorers. Cathy Williams invited her cousin, David Kitchin, to realise his long-held ambition to open a picture gallery and he rented wall space from The Rowley Gallery to start his own independent business, trading as Rowley Gallery Contemporary Arts. In 2006 he moved to Winchester, where he took over the former Maltby Gallery, under the new name of Rowley Contemporary Art. Cathy Williams retired in 2003 and Chris Hamer and Kai Yin Lam continued The Rowley Gallery in London in frame making, gilding, and restoring, but also exhibiting their own selection of contemporary paintings and prints. Suffolk artists who exhibited with the Rowley Galleries include Jonathan Peter Gibbs, Jelly Green and Jane Lewis.
Website: https://www.rowleygallery.com