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The Larkin Idea In 1904, Larkin commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to
Thanks to the use of incen- build the Larkin Administration Building – Wright’s first commercial
tives to promote sales and strong commission. The project was completed in 1906 and was considered a
word-of-mouth, the Larkin Soap landmark building in the development of modern architecture.
Company became a marketing Unfortunately, the building was torn down in 1950.
juggernaut. It set the tone for By 1910, the Larkin Companies were receiving almost 10,000 sales
making sales within the home by letters per day and keeping up with orders became more difficult.
working directly with the Nine hundred items were featured in the catalog, with most being
matron of the house. Mail- manufactured in-house. Products bearing the Larkin name expanded to
ordering products was not a new include perfume, toiletries, smelling salts, shampoo, “Sulpho-Tobacco
idea, but the packaging of a Soap, Insecticide,” and much more, while premiums offered now
variety of premiums available included everything from an autoharp to pocket watches, to cook
with each order turned out to be stoves, and fine cut glass.
a goldmine. By offering rewards The company hit its high-
at almost every buying level, water mark in the year 1920 with
homemakers were incentivized The Larkin Idea 1899 catalogue cover sales totaling nearly $23 million.
to buy often and buy more. photo: www.archive.org After that pinnacle year, sales and
profits declined. In 1931, while
“The Larken Idea” was heavily still in the midst of the Great
promoted. Flyers, magazines, Depression, the Larkin company
catalogs, and brochures flooded paid its last stockholder dividend.
the market. Larkin’s pitch was The following year, the company
straightforward, saying that lost over $1 million. However,
because he manufactured the thanks to careful control of the
products he sold—unlike Sears & business’s finances and overall
Roebuck and Montgomery Ward structure, by 1943, all creditors
—and sold them directly to the were paid off and bankruptcy was
consumer. By selling direct, Larkin avoided.
eliminated the need for a “middle- The company had gone
man” (aka distributors or store- through several other transitions at
fronts) and gave the customer that time. William Heath left The 1903 cover of
better value for the money. Larkin in 1924 and Darwin The Larkin Soaps and Premiums booklet
Well-constructed marketing Martin retired in 1925. John D. with 21 pages of premiums.
photo: www.archive.org
language joined with customer Larkin died in 1926, and his sons
testimonials and stories of sales John Jr. and Harry H. Larkin led the company during the following
success and were consistently pre- decades. In 1950, after years of neglect and vandalism, the Larkin
sented to the consumer at a steady Administration Building was demolished. All that’s left are the remains
This image shows the packaging designs for rate. As a result, the Idea proved of two of the building’s piers and signage describing what was lost.
their products and tells the customer some of to be so popular that by 1893, the In 1941, after a steady decline, Larkin Companies was sold and then
the cost benefits of buying direct, ca. 1900 Larkin Soap Company was liquidated in 1942. The mail-order business continued until 1962.
photo: www.archive.org
sending out catalogs to over 1.5 Today, nearly 150 years after the founding of the Larkin Company,
million customers twice a year. The Larkin sales force was no longer the historic energy and success of the Larkin Companies is reflected in
needed to get sales and the sales department was disbanded as a result. the activity and enthusiasm of the new businesses in Larkinville and the
As defined by the 1903 catalog, “A Larkin Premium is the premium popular year-round events at Larkin Square.
given to every direct purchaser of a Case of the Larkin Soaps. … A
Certificate Premium is the premium given to a Regular Customer for 1949 Larking Soap Company
his services in extending the sale of Larkin Soaps. …” Women would Catalog Incentives
gather and form “clubs of ten” and together would each pledge to buy At left, fill your pantry with
$1 worth of Larkin products each month and then one member would Larkin-branded kitchen basics
be selected to qualify for a premium thanks to the total purchase of $10 from corn starch to
or more. cake mixes to pudding
Welcome to the
20th Century
Larkin started Buffalo
Pottery in 1901 to create
premiums and to supply
the now highly-col-
lectible commercial pot-
tery and chinaware to
restaurants, hotels, and
other businesses across
the country. Buffalo
Pottery was the first
American-based compa-
ny to produce a line of
Blue Willow ware, and 1949 Larking Soap Company
Frank Lloyd Wright’s drawing for Catalog Incentives
the Larkin Company administration building. their mastery of printing At right, always on trend, the
The building was designed in 1903, built in Buffalo, the blue on china was “Tubular-Steel Breakfast Set” joins
New York, and demolished in 1950. said to have rivaled that the highly collectible Mid-Century
of English factories.
photo: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Modern sought after today.

24 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles