I remember when I was a child, I was taken on yet another tedious day trip to Brescia Furniture, on Parramatta Road at Ashfield. When we attempted to sit on one of the lounges to see how it felt, we were rudely told to get off by one of the staff. We left empty handed.
Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it, Brescia?
The showroom was built in 1975 for Keith Lord Furniture, replacing their old site:
Keith Lord Furniture and Electrical, Ashfield NSW, April 1965. Image courtesy Library of NSW.
Lord died in 1978, and by 1994 his chain was dead. Along the way, this showroom was sold to Brescia, for whom it became a model store. But in 2005 it went up in one of the worst and most intense fires in Sydney’s history. It was said that the combination of leather, varnish, wood and other flammable materials all stockpiled together in a 30-year-old building didn’t help over 900 firefighters put out the blaze over three days. I guess that’s why they didn’t want us on the lounges.
Past/Lives of the Near Future 
Went past it loads of times.Interesting.Good to see Sydney history being documented.Thanks.
I still remember the 1970s ads on the TV for Keith Lord furniture stores. He also had branches at Carlton and Hornsby. The Carlton store, with its Keith Lord concrete arches and moulded clinker brick walls, is still there in all its glory on the corner of Princes Hwy and Westbourne St. The Hornsby store was the third one to open, on the prime spot at the bend in the Pacific Hwy and Pretoria Pde intersection. In recent years that site has been demolished and redeveloped as an apartment block.
I knew there was something about that Carlton place…
Hi Phil The Old keith lord building still stands in Hornsby, its now used as kennards self storage and we still have the famous arches around the building the building is a L shape and the apartments are built on the corner and we wrap around it
Kind regards Adrian (Manager Kennards Self Storage Hornsby)
Brescia staff pricks didn’t let me sit on the couches either… Your parents did the whole day furniture research trips as well? I thought it was only me…
That’s what parents do.
Went past there a couple of days ago and the M4 extension has taken the car park but the shell of the building is still there. It seems no one wants to take responsibility of tearing it down. When we were kids we used to joke about the name and tell people he was our cousin.
Paul, just rock up and claim the building with that logic! “Long lost cousin, only living descendant etc”
Hi, I worked for Kieth, Great man, brilliant mind. Unfortunately he had pricks for sons especially Barry.
Yes, I think you are right about his sons. The weekend just before they went into recievership, they were taking pre-orders for for couches and other furniture. They advertised these great deals in the weeks prior. The shop was full of people handing over their money, then we all learned that Keith Lord’s shut down, and our money was gone. Price Waterhouse was managing the process. So in a nutshell, I believe we were duped into funding their closure. Just disgusting.
My father was a good friend of Keith’s, he was a fantastic snooker player with my Dad at Ashfield Businessman’s club …fond memories of both men
Hi Chris,
My brother used to date his daughter Joanne, I wonder how she is ? Any idea ?