Historic Architecture in Sheffield - Part 1

 

A grotesque by Frank Tory on Parade Chambers

During 2021, from February to October, most of my days out in Sheffield were based around my project to visit all of the Sheffield Board Schools, but I also took with me a list of various buildings that did not yet have a photograph on the British Listed Buildings website. 

 

The distribution of the Sheffield Board Schools

After completing this project, I spent the end of the year visiting parts of Sheffield that I had never explored before, particularly the Conservation Areas in Broomhill, Broomhall and Nether Edge; however, most of the listed buildings in the City Centre Conservation Area have already been photographed and, although I occasionally capture a detail when well lit, I have never systematically recorded its buildings.

 

The Sheffield City Centre Conservation Area

 

Although I had made a provisional list of various places that I wanted to visit in 2022, my movements were still dictated by the winter weather; however, despite my trips to Sheffield being limited to essential shopping or perhaps to the creative writing sessions that I attend at Sheffield Central Library, I carried my Canon Powershot G7 Mark II camera with me at all times and would make the most of any good weather, while fitting in with times of the buses back to Treeton. 

 

The Old Town Hall on Waingate

 

More than a week after I had a walk around Bray Plantation and Walkworth Wood, I took advantage of a bright sunny day to go into Sheffield and find the Old Police Station on Castle Green and one of the old brick built little mesters workshops on Arundel Street, but firstly I had a quick look at the stonework at the Old Town Hall (1808) by Watson of Wakefield. 

 

Details of the Old Town Hall

 

The original building is made of very coarse grained, cross-bedded sandstone that has the characteristics of the Chatsworth Grit but the fountain, added in 1897, is made with finer grained sandstone from the Millstone Grit Group, which is either from Derbyshire or West Yorkshire. 

 

The east elevation of the Old Police Station

 

I had a quick look at the east elevation of the Old Police Station, which is built with sandstone ashlar but, being more concerned with getting a decent photo in the restricted space available on Castle Green, I didn't take much notice of the stone used here. 

 

The principal elevation of 1-9 York Street

 

Making my way up High Street, my next stop was the Grade II Listed 1-9 York Street (1895) by Andrew Watson of the practice Holmes and Watson, who later designed five board schools – including the Arts and Crafts style Western Road, Ranmoor and Carterknowle schools. 

 

The original entrance to the bank

It was commissioned for the London and Midland Bank and, like very many other bank buildings of this period, it has made use of the best materials of the time, with the ashlar from Huddersfield and the variety of Norwegian larvikite, Emerald Pearl, being used for the door surround and plinth and a dark red Swedish granite for the columns.

 

A detail of the former London and Midland Bank

 

Red granites, which were imported from Sweden and Finland at this time, are much darker than Scottish granites such as the varieties from Peterhead and the Ross of Mull, but without reference collections to refer to or petrographic analysis, it is very difficult to positively identify them. 

 

A detail of the column base at the former London and Midland Bank

Looking closely at a detailed photo of one of the column bases, the quartz crystals seem to have a distinct blueish colour, which struck me as being very unusual. According to the Building Stones of Cardiff, which I had purchased more than 25 years ago, this is apparently a characteristic of the Precambrian Virgo granite. 

 

Sculpture by Frank Tory at the former London and Midland Bank

 

I had passed this many times but, although I had noticed these granites, I didn’t look at the ornate architectural sculpture above the main doorway, which has three escutcheons but is barely mentioned in the Historic England description. It is the work of the renowned sculptor Frank Tory, who produced top quality work in both stone and wood for many of Sheffield’s finest buildings. 

 

Stone carving on Parade Chambers

 

His figurative work can be seen to great effect on the adjoining Parade Chambers (1884), by the Sheffield architects M.E Hadfield and Son, one of a series of practices that was founded in 1838 by Matthew Ellison Hadfield and is still operating under the name of Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson. 

 

Sculptural details on Parade Chambers

Having taken advantage of the bright sunshine, which was perfectly illuminating the array of wonderful grotesques, I made my way down to Arundel Street, where the old Challenge Works has a good example of incised lettering that announces its business.

 

The former Challenge Works