Historic Architecture in Sheffield - Part 3

 

The Royal Warrant of Appointment at Yorkshire House

Continuing with my investigation of the historic architecture in the City Centre Conservation Area, I stopped very briefly to photograph Yorkshire House (1884), by Flockton and Gibbs, on the corner of Barker’s Pool and Leopold Street, where the sun illuminated a Royal Warrant of Appointment that I had never noticed before.

 

Yorkshire House

On the north side of Fargate, Nos. 58-64 are built in buff coloured medium grained gritstone ashlar in a Neoclassical style, with two different ‘black granites’ used for the former door surround, which look like the South African Nero Impala from Rustenberg and Belfast Black -  a gabbro and dolerite respectively from the Bushveld Igneous Complex. Pink/red granite is also used for Ionic capitals and for the shafts to the first floor windows, but I couldn’t see their details. 

 

A detail of Nos. 58-64 Fargate

 

The Grade II Listed Carmel House (1890) by HW Lockwood in the Gothic Revival style, provides another example of best quality sandstone ashlar, with gryphons, escutcheons, floral detailing and other fine sculpture by Frank Tory at high level, which the Historic England listing fails to mention.

 

Carmel House

Continuing down Fargate, Nos. 38-40 (1882), designed by John Dodsley Webster for Arthur Davy and Sons Ltd, are again adorned by top quality stone carving, for animal heads, faces and floral details at the eaves and for quatrefoils and other geometrical designs. 

 

Nos. 38-40 Fargate

Various other buildings, such as No. 9 and No. 14 occupy single plots and, although lacking the grand designs and figurative sculpture of their much larger neighbours, still display high quality workmanship and fine stone carvings. 

 

Various Victorian buildings on Fargate

At No. 2 High Street, the Grade II Listed former Barclays Bank (1895), by Flockton, Gibbs and Flockton provides another example of the use of various granites, which was fashionable in the late C19 and early C20. Although I photographed the building from afar and didn't examine the various stones, Rubislaw granite from Aberdeen, the blue pearl variety of larvikite from Norway and the Rose Swede granite can be seen here. 

 

No. 2 High Street

 

The last stop on my very brief exploration of some more of Sheffield’s historic architecture ended at Nos 8-24 High Street (1897), another building by Flockton, Gibbs and Flockton, which was designed in a French Domestic Gothic style and built as a single shop for William Fosters & Sons Ltd, Gents Outfitters. 

Nos. 8-24 High Street

The Historic England listing describes it as being built with Huddersfield Stone, which will be very similar to the Crosland Hill stone produced by Johnsons Wellfield – as seen throughout the centre of Sheffield in the Heart of the City developments. Like the other buildings on Fargate, it exhibits fine stone carvings that are still in excellent condition after 125 years. 

 

A detail of Nos. 8 -24 High Street

While waiting for my No. 120 bus to Ranmoor, I took a few quick snaps of The Ali Babas by Vic Brailsford and Wheatsheaves by Peter Yarwood, which I had seen when writing for the Stone Specialist trade journal back in 1998, shortly after I had moved to Treeton.

 

The Ali Babas and Wheatsheaves