Irvine Gerald Sellar (3 September 1934 – 26 February 2017) was an English fashion retailer, and later property developer. He was the founder of the Sellar Property Group, and the developer of

The Shard The Shard, also referred to as the Shard London Bridge and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey mixed-use development supertall pyramid-shaped skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that for ...

Early life

Sellar was born on 3 September 1934 in London, England. He worked with his father on markets in and around the East End of London. His family was Jewish, and he grew up in Southgate, London. Sellar left school at 16 and studied accounting but decided to start working instead. The Shard from the Sky Garden 2015

Career

Sellar started his career as a market trader before opening his first shop in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

. A second shop followed in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

Wardour Street Wardour Street () is a street in Soho, City of Westminster, London. It is a one-way street that runs north from Leicester Square, through Chinatown, London, Chinatown, across Shaftesbury Avenue to Oxford Street. Throughout the 20th century th ...

in 1964. The following year, along with his wife Elizabeth, a third shop was opened on

Carnaby Street Carnaby Street is a Pedestrian zone, pedestrianised shopping street in Soho in the City of Westminster, Central London. Close to Oxford Street and Regent Street, it is home to fashion and lifestyle retailers, including many independent fashion ...

, a parade that was to become a worldwide Mecca for fashion, helping to define London's swinging 60s. Meanwhile, he founded the first unisex fashion company in the United Kingdom, Mates by Irvine Sellars. The company later became "Britain’s second-biggest fashion chain," with 90 shops in 1981. That year, he sold it to a South African investor. Sellar founded Ford Sellar Morris, a property company listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

. Sellar borrowed £111m in 1989 and, because of a property downturn in 1991, the company went bankrupt in 1991-92, when Sellar lost £30 million. Sellar founded the Sellar Property Group. He acquired the headquarters of

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London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

in 1998. That year, he acquired the site of what would later become

. With 80% from

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i investors, Sellar completed the construction of The Shard in 2012. He subsequently developed buildings near

Paddington Station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by ...

. In December 2016, his plan to develop the 19-storey Paddington Cube for £775 million was approved by

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority control since 2022. Full council meetings ...

Personal life

With his wife Elizabeth, Sellar had two sons, James, who went on to serve as chairman of SPG, and Paul, a playwright, as well as a daughter, Caroline. In 2015, Irvine and James Sellar had an estimated joint wealth of GBP£220 million. Sellar was a black belt in

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, drove a Rolls-Royce and smoked cigars.

Death

Irvine Sellar died on 26 February 2017, aged 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellar, Irvine 1934 births 2017 deaths Businesspeople from London English Jews Place of birth missing Place of death missing 20th-century English businesspeople British company founders