Historic Streets and Squares: The Secrets On Your Doorstep

By Melanie Backe-Hansen

In this picturesque exploration of Britain’s constructed landscape, an array of medieval lanes, Georgian crescents and Victorian squares make an appearance, together with the people – famous, infamous and unfamiliar – who designed, built and lived in them. From Bedford Square and Portobello Road in London, through to Grey Street in Newcastle and Charlotte Square in Edinburgh, Historic Streets and Squares takes you over the doorstep of some of the country’s most familiar addresses.

Melanie Backe-Hansen takes us beyond the facades, delving into the evolution of ancient streets, the aspirations of builders and architects, and the extraordinary lives of past residents. She also reveals the fascinating stories of how some of our oldest and most valued crescents, lanes and avenues have survived into the twenty-first century, and the twists and turns of their journey along the way.

Taken together, these fifty examples tell us much about Britain’s urban development over the centuries, while also highlighting more recent attempts to preserve our architectural heritage. The history of our streets, avenues, lanes and squares reveals more than just changes to architectural style, but offers a doorway into the heritage of our nation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780750951654

Melanie Backe-Hansen

Melanie Backe-Hansen is a historian, writer, and speaker, who specializes in researching the social history of houses throughout the United Kingdom. She is the author of two books, House Histories: The Secrets Behind Your Front Door (2011) and Historic Streets and Squares: The Secrets on Your Doorstep (2013), and she was a consultant on the television series of A House Through Time. She is a member of the Royal Historical Society and an honorary teaching fellow at the University of Dundee.

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Introduction

The evolution of our streets and how we’ve lived is the very essence of our history. The streets, squares, crescents, avenues and lanes of our cities reveal an inordinate amount about our past. On the surface they show the evolution of architectural style and taste, but beneath the surface lie stories that are more than just bricks, timber and stone. Whether an early street laid out by the Romans, a grand Georgian square, or a modern development, these thoroughfares are at the heart of our communities. They tell the history of our towns, but they also reveal the history of the nation. It is the stories of owners, residents and the events of the past that give a greater depth to our streets.

The following examples provide an overview of the variety of both well-known and lesser-known streets and squares. They reveal the stories behind the famous names and bring to life tucked-away places. From the medieval and Tudor streets of the Shambles in York and Steep Hill in Lincoln, to the grand King’s Parade in Cambridge and Grey Street in Newcastle, each has its own unique story and each plays a vital role in the history of the area.

While our streets have evolved over generations, through successive alterations and improvements, the square appeared as a revolution in fashionable living. At a time when builders and developers were scrambling to build new terraces, the square became the idyllic residential location. The open view to gardens, as well as the open space with the much-desired ‘pure air’, combined with the ever-popular town house, made the square the most sought-after address. Numerous commentators remarked on the beauty and fashion of the new squares, including the poet Robert Browning who in 1855 wrote:

Had I but plenty of money, money enough and to spare,

The house for me, no doubt, were a house in the city square.

Ah, such a life, such a life, as one leads at the window there.

Developments in building standards, particularly after the Great Fire of London, and private acts for improving, securing, cleaning and lighting, meant the narrow medieval- and Tudor-style streets dissolved in favour of the wider, more spacious and fashionable streets and squares. The residential square is renowned and many have gained popular reputations, whether for the doors of Merrion Square in Dublin or the architectural legacy of Bedford Square in London.

The stories of streets and squares each offer a window into the history of architectural excellence and an insight into how we live and want to live. It was extraordinarily difficult to choose the places to feature in this book, as there are so many options. Every street and corner has a story to tell that reveals something of our past. When walking down a street or lane in your town, you may think twice about those who have trodden the same path before you.

Illustration

Merrion Square, Dublin. (See page 228). Courtesy of Paul Clerken

SCOTLAND AND THE NORTH OF ENGLAND

CHARLOTTE SQUARE–EDINBURGH

EDINBURGH’S NEW TOWN

Edinburgh is one of the most picturesque cities in the United Kingdom, characterised by its imposing castle, lively Royal Mile and the architectural brilliance of the New Town, designated a World Heritage Site in 1995. Planned in the eighteenth century when much of the Old Town was overcrowded and dirty, the New Town is defined by long, wide-open streets, crescents, squares and gardens.

In 1766 Edinburgh’s town council held a design competition for the ‘New Town’. It was won by a young architect, James Craig, who produced an orderly grid plan, with streets named after the royal household. The design featured two large squares at each end: St Andrew’s Square and St George’s Square, named after the patron saints of Scotland and England. However, the symmetry of the names was broken when St George’s Square was renamed Charlotte Square in 1786, in honour of King George III’s wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg.

Illustration

Map of New Town, Edinburgh, 1768, by James Craig. (Geographicus Rare Antique Maps)

Building of the New Town began in the east with St Andrew’s Square. There were some initial problems with completing the street layout to the west, which lay partly on land belonging to the Earl of Moray. It was feared the scheme may not be completed, but in 1791 an agreement was reached allowing for the building of Charlotte Square. By this time the Lord Provost had commissioned a new design for the square, calling in renowned architect Robert Adam.

BUILDING BEGINS

Building began on the northern side of the square in 1792, with the first feu (tenure of the property) taken after the promise of £10 to the first builder to complete the roof of a house, which was finished in September that year. After this initial burst of energy, building was slow. A further five houses were completed on the north side between 1796 and 1798, but large sections remained unfinished by the start of the nineteenth century.

The main architect attributed to works in the square after Robert Adam was Robert Reid, who was the king’s architect and surveyor in Scotland. Other builders and architects included Alexander Stevens, James Tait, Edward Butterworth, Peter Lorimer and David Hay (who received the £10 for finishing the first house). Records show that in 1796 there were three residents on the north side, and by 1800 only two-thirds of this side had been completed and only small sections of the other sides were under way. Building began to speed up after 1807 when new articles of sale were issued. The south side was the last section to be completed, in 1820, by which time Charlotte Square was already firmly established as one of the most prestigious addresses in Edinburgh.

Robert Adam and the Palace Front

Charlotte Square, often praised as ‘one of the most beautiful squares in Europe’, was one of the last sections of the New Town to be completed and was seen by many as the crowning glory of this area, particularly due to the designs by Robert Adam.

Adam completed his plans for Charlotte Square in 1791, the year before he died. He created a ‘palace-fronted’ facade on each side, with individual houses constructed as part of a unified frontage. This classical style was much favoured by Georgian society. The Scottish architect Sir Basil Spence said: ‘It is here that we find civic architecture at its best, created by a master.’ The square was given the royal seal of approval by George IV when he visited in 1822. He said to Sir Walter Scott: ‘I always heard the Scotch were a proud people; and they may well be proud, for they are a nation of gentlemen and they live in a city of palaces.’

The designs were based on classical forms, featuring pilasters, columns and balustrades. Adam’s style of decoration – using festoons, circular panels, decorative fanlights and carved friezes – can still be seen on the north side of the square, which has been described as ‘Robert Adam’s masterpiece of urban architecture’. Later builders and architects altered the original designs and the architectural unity of the terraces was lost.

The south side of the square was intended to be the same as the north, while the east is divided by George Street and was to have had two separate ‘palace’ fronts. The west side included St George’s Church, with a vista along George Street between two sections of six houses.

Illustration

Bute House, north side of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. (© Kim Traynor)

ADAM’S NORTH SIDE

The north side is the triumph of Charlotte Square. It is the only side to have remained largely as Adam intended. There have been some alterations over the years, but the grand palace-fronted design has been retained, described in The Buildings of Scotland as ‘of uncommon finesse and grandeur’. The main reason for this survival can be attributed to the efforts of John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute, who purchased No. 5 in 1903 and set about restoring the house to its former glory. He also recreated the Georgian interiors, described as ‘Fabergé Adam’ in their attempts to imitate the Adam style.

The neoclassical-style northern facade portrays the appearance of a palace by a slightly projecting central section of seven bays featuring Corinthian columns and a carved and fluted frieze. The ends of the terrace are also projecting and have pilasters and central tripartite windows. The upper section features an ornate festoon, with a stone sphinx.

The first resident of No. 5 was John Peter Grant, 9th Laird of Rothiemurchus. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, born in the house on 7 May 1797, wrote Memoirs of a Highland Lady (1898), which gave great insight into the life of a lady in Georgian Scotland. She later wrote that their new home ‘where my father had purchased one of the only three houses then finished in Charlotte Square’ was ‘the most agreeable we ever lived in in Edinburgh’.

Today, No. 6 Charlotte Square is known as Bute House, the official home of the First Minister of Scotland. It was the former home of the Secretary of State for Scotland from 1970 until devolution in 1999. In 1806, it was occupied by Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, who compiled twenty-nine volumes of the first Statistical Account of Scotland (1791), an early form of census. No. 6 later became Oman’s Hotel, then in 1927 the Marquess of Bute purchased Nos 6 and 7, in addition to No. 5, and continued restoring the houses. In 1949, No. 5 became the headquarters of the National Trust for Scotland. Ten years after the death of the 5th Marquess of Bute in 1956, Nos 5, 6 and 7 all passed to the National Trust for Scotland, which continues to own No. 6, with the First Minister in residence.

No. 7, known as The Georgian House, was restored by the National Trust as a museum, showing the building as it would have been when the first residents moved in during 1796. The first occupant was John Lamont, 18th chief of the Clan Lamont, who lived here with his family from 1796 to 1815. Other residents along the north side of the square included the surgeon Joseph Lister, pioneer in the practice of antiseptic surgery, who lived there from 1870 to 1877.

THE EAST SIDE

The east side of the square is divided by George Street, which leads directly to St Andrew’s Square. The completed terraces appear similar to Adam’s design, with large Ionic columns, balustrades, festooned panels and round-arched windows and doors, but the symmetry and refinement have been lost. Later additions further distorted the overall design, with dormer windows, porches, cast-iron balconies and lowered windows. A large portion of the south-eastern section is now the Roxburghe Hotel, which was first established at Nos 38 and 39 in the 1870s. Robert Reid designed No. 44 as his own home. From 1898 to 1938, No. 45 was the home of medical scientist Sir Robert Philip, who pioneered studies into tuberculosis.

Illustration

St George’s Church (now West Register House) and the west side of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. (The City of Edinburgh Council)

THE SOUTH SIDE

The south side of the square was the final section to be finished, beginning in 1805. No. 27 was recorded as the last house completed in 1820. Despite slight alterations from Adam’s design, the south facade still portrays a neoclassical, palace-like frontage, with a slightly projecting central section featuring Corinthian columns, circular plaques, and a carved and fluted frieze. Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, who commanded the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War, was born at No. 24 on 19 June 1861. No. 16 was the birthplace of scientist and inventor of the telephone Alexander Graham Bell, who was born in the house on 3 March 1847. Nos 26–31 were purchased by the National Trust for Scotland in 1996 as its headquarters and were renamed Wemyss House in honour of David Charteris, Earl of Wemyss, a former president of the trust. The building was sold to a property company in 2009 and is being refurbished to create new office accommodation.

Albert’s Memorial

The centrepiece of Charlotte Square gardens is the Albert Memorial, commemorating Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert. It was designed by John Steell, who was granted the commission after a competition held in 1865. Officially unveiled by Victoria in August 1876, the bronze equestrian statue shows the prince in field-marshal’s uniform placed on a stone plinth with bas-reliefs by other artists depicting images from his life, including the opening of the Great Exhibition in 1851.

THE WEST SIDE

Like the east side of Charlotte Square, the west side is divided into two parts by the grand West Register House, formerly St George’s Church. This created two similar, divided, palace-like sections of six houses, which were largely constructed to Adam’s designs of 1791. Building began in 1803 and was completed in 1807. Residents have included George Combe, lawyer and advocate of phrenology, who lived at No. 12. Sir William Fettes, namesake of Fettes College, lived at No. 13. He was one of the most successful merchants and businessmen of the eighteenth century and was created Lord Provost and Baronet in 1804. He died a wealthy man in 1836 and his trustees established Fettes College from a bequest in his will. No. 14 was the home of lawyer, judge, conservationist and author Henry, Lord Cockburn. The Cockburn Association, advocating architectural conservation, is named in his honour.

Sir Patrick Heron Watson died at No. 16 in 1907. He was Surgeon-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria in Scotland, and Honorary Surgeon to King Edward VII in Scotland. Some believe that he may have been the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle’s Dr Watson, companion of Sherlock Holmes. No. 17 was the birthplace of Richard Burdon, Viscount Haldane, who was Secretary of War in 1905–12, and three times Lord Chancellor. His sister, Elizabeth, author and the first woman to become a Justice of the Peace in Scotland, was also born at No. 17. Wimbledon champion and Olympian Harold Mahony was born at No. 21 in 1867. Elsie Maud Inglis, pioneer in providing medical care for women, attended the Edinburgh Institution for the Education of Young Ladies at No. 23.

ST GEORGE’S – WEST REGISTER HOUSE

The west side of Charlotte Square features the former St George’s Church. The original design by Robert Adam was abandoned due to financial constraints and a new design by Robert Reid was completed in 1814. When viewed from a distance, the green dome has been described as ‘an impressive and striking climax’, and ‘one of the Landmarks of Edinburgh’s skyline’. It is believed to be a smaller version of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The building was converted into the Scottish Record Office in 1964 and today West Register House is one of three properties housing the National Archives of Scotland.

EASTGATE STREET – CHESTER

CHESTER ROWS

On both sides of Eastgate Street, many buildings retain the ‘Rows’ which consist of a walkway along the first floor (Row level) with covered gallery and shops set back, while the ground or undercroft level, which is slightly below street level, features another row of shops. The Row level is also noteworthy because of the ‘stall’ or ‘stallboard’ situated to the front, which is slightly raised to provide headroom to the steps below. These walkways run continuously between properties, although with later rebuilding some have been blocked. This unusual style is unique to Chester.

The origins of the Chester Rows have been debated for many years. The first documentary evidence of a Chester Row property dates to the thirteenth century, although it is widely believed they originated prior to this, but a fire swept through Chester in 1278 destroying large portions of the city. At the time Chester was becoming a major military base for Edward I, who mounted two campaigns against the Welsh, in 1277 and again in 1282–83. Chester became the main centre for troops, and along with them came the merchants and traders who established a commercial centre. After 1283, Edward I initiated a large-scale castle-building programme across Wales and this brought further wealth to Chester as workmen and craftsmen moved into the area. It is thought that the city’s first charter, granted by Edward I in 1300, meant the citizens of Chester had more control over how the city was developed. All these events are believed to have influenced the construction of Chester Rows, which evolved into a style where space was maximised for business and selling.

Via Principalis

Eastgate Street is one of four original streets of the Roman town and fortress of Deva Victrix, established in AD 75, which evolved into today’s Chester. Today, Eastgate Street runs between Watergate Street in the west and Foregate Street in the east. It became known as Via Principalis, the main east–west route through the town, and is also part of the line of Watling Street, one of the main Roman roads across Britain. By the tenth century, Chester was established as a Saxon burh, a form of fortified settlement, and the same layout was retained, as were the town defences, with the stone walls and surrounding ditches. Eastgate Street was at the core of the settlement and a central street for markets and merchants. This foundation as a market is one of the reasons put forward for the curious design of the buildings in the centre of Chester which came to be known as Chester Rows.

SHOPPING

Eastgate Street has been a centre for shopping since the Romans. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the area to the north-west of Eastgate, opposite St Peter’s Church, became the main market place, known as the forum. The structures were largely temporary stalls, but by the thirteenth century they were replaced by permanent buildings. This area of Eastgate Street became known as Buttershops and by the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it was still associated with dairy products. Later, bakers worked here, hence Bakers Row and St Giles’s Bakehouse.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the south side of Eastgate Street was the location of a corn market while also becoming known for goldsmiths. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, shops sold luxury items, particularly as improvements in transport brought goods from London and afar. The eighteenth century also brought a thriving trade in cloth and cotton, particularly from Manchester, and a section of Eastgate Row North became known as Manchester Row. The northern side of the street was the location for a warehouse, Manchester Hall, which by the early eighteenth century consisted of forty-four shops. By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Eastgate Street was firmly established as the location for high quality, fashionable items.

Illustration

Eastgate Row, Chester. (Hughes, T., The Stranger’s Handbook to Chester and its Environs, Chester: Thomas Catherall, 1856)

Browns department store moved to Eastgate Street in the 1790s and by 1828 created a new store at Nos 32–34, described as ‘the first shop to establish new standards of opulence’. It was so successful that it began to expand into the neighbouring properties. The Public Market opened in 1863 and the provisions sellers moved out of the area so Eastgate Street became solely permanent shops, as we recognise it today.

VERNACULAR REVIVAL

One of the most striking features of Eastgate Street today is the number of black-and-white timber-framed facades. Although many of the houses were first constructed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it is the rebuilding during the nineteenth century in a style that became known as Vernacular Revival that still proliferates. This style is identified by heavy timber-framing and jettied upper floors.

Illustration

Eastgate Street, Chester. (Green Lane)

The Vernacular Revival has been largely attributed to architect Thomas Mainwaring Penson. He built the first of the new-style buildings along Eastgate Street in 1852, refacing an earlier structure for Platt’s Chemists shop, at No. 40, but this was demolished in 1912 and replaced with the present three-gabled building by William T. Lockwood. The Vernacular Revival was principally inspired by a growing popularity in antiquarianism and a fascination with medieval and Gothic styles. Early attempts in Vernacular Revival involved the refacing of buildings, which allowed for the survival of the medieval undercrofts. However, as the nineteenth century progressed architects began to completely rebuild properties and the original medieval and Tudor features were lost and replaced with imitations.

Among the architects who followed the Vernacular Revival was Thomas Meakin Lockwood. Lockwood was a pupil of Penson’s and after Penson died in 1864 he was the favoured architect of the landowning Grosvenor family. It has been said that Lockwood’s ‘contribution to the Rows is more significant than that of any other single architect’. Lockwood’s most significant design was for the corner site with Bridge Street at The Cross. It was built in 1888 and features two separate buildings, No. 1 Bridge Street and No. 2 Eastgate Street, with bold half-timbering, carved and moulded ornamentation and a large gable.

EASTGATE STREET AND EASTGATE STREET ROWS

Eastgate Street today features a great array of architectural styles. While the bold black-and-white of the Vernacular Revival style stands out, the intervening properties are a mix of eighteenth and early nineteenth century in brick and stone, along with some later constructions from the twentieth century. Although large portions of the medieval and sixteenth- and seventeenth-century buildings have been lost, some elements are still retained behind the facades and in undercrofts. Of particular note, Nos 10–12 are Vernacular Revival buildings designed by George Williams in 1861 for Messrs Becketts. This was formerly the location of a medieval undercroft which collapsed when the new building was being constructed above. An early seventeenth-century building is believed to survive behind the brick facade of No. 20, while at No. 22 the 1850s facade by Penson, with jettied gable, hides an earlier building dating to 1610. No. 26 is another seventeenth-century building with later additions, which was restored by Penson for Butts Jewellers in 1858.

Nos 28–30 were built in 1858 as part of Browns in a less usual Gothic Revival style in stone. Sometimes referred to as the Crypt Building, it features moulded arches, mullion windows, carved decoration and a tower. However, the main attraction of No. 28 is the original medieval vaulted undercroft. Grade I listed, it dates to around 1290–1300. Nos 32–34 formed the original Browns department store, built in 1828 with Doric columns in a Greek Revival style. Nos 36–38 are also part of Browns and the earliest surviving example of Penson’s Vernacular Revival, built in 1857, with half-timbering and pierced bargeboards.

The Grosvenor Hotel was constructed in 1863–66 by Thomas Penson, and after his death by his son, R.K. Penson, and Ritchie, for Robert Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster. This area was formerly the site of the Roman bath, but by the eighteenth century had become the Royal Hotel and the Talbot Inn. The new hotel was constructed using a mixture of stone, red brick and timber-framed sections on the upper floors. The last building along the south side was constructed around 1770, at the time the Eastgate was being rebuilt. It is in an earlier Georgian style and believed to have been designed by Joseph Turner or possibly Mr Heyden, surveyor of buildings for Lord Grosvenor.

The Eastgate and Eastgate Clock

The Eastgate has been on this site since the Romans built their fortress in the first century. It was where keepers would inspect goods coming in and out, and levy taxes and fines. By the medieval period it still had sections of the earlier Roman structure and was described as the ‘strongest and most lofty in the city’, with a central Gothic archway flanked by two tall towers. In 1768 it was demolished and a new gate was built by Richard Heyden, for Richard, 1st Earl Grosvenor. It is this gateway that remains at the end of Eastgate Street today, featuring a wider central arch and smaller side arches for pedestrians. On the inner keystone are the arms of the county palatine and along the frieze is an inscription featuring the dates and the mayors of the city when the gate was built.

The Eastgate clock is said to be the second most photographed clock in England, after the clock of Clock Tower (and Big Ben) in London. It was designed by John Douglas in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and unveiled in the month of her 80th birthday, on 27 May 1899. The clock was paid for by Colonel Evans Lloyd and the mechanism was made by J.B. Joyce & Company from Shropshire. It features four clock faces and is situated within a cast-iron framework, along with a copper ogee cupola with weathervane.

THE NORTH SIDE

Continuing along the north side of Eastgate Street is the former Grosvenor Club, now a bank. It was built in 1883 by Douglas and Fordham in red brick and stone, with turrets, oriel windows and large fluted chimneys. The exterior features gilded and coloured shields above the door, and above the ground-floor windows are shields emblazoned with the arms of twelve former shires of Wales. Between the second and third floors are the Grosvenor Arms.

Continuing to the west, the Rows have gone. No. 41 was built in the mid-eighteenth century with a simple brick and stone facade, while No. 39, built at about the same time, features a decorated baroque facade with stucco ornaments and semicircular pediment. No. 37 is a later Vernacular Revival style, constructed in 1892 by Charles A. Ewing. On the other side of St Werburgh Street is No. 33, built by George Williams for Dixon and Wardell’s Chester Bank in 1859–60 on the site of the former Mitre Inn. It was completed in a neoclassical style, with a giant Corinthian portico which closed off the Row along this stretch of the street. No. 31 was completed in 1889 by T.M. Lockwood with timber-framing and jettied upper floors. Nos 29 and 27 were both constructed in the eighteenth century and feature painted brick facades. No. 25 is another Vernacular Revival building, completed in 1861 by T.A. Richardson for grocers Dutton and Miller.

Illustration

The Cross, Chester, with Eastgate Street to the left.

No. 17 Eastgate Street has been known as the Boot Inn since around 1750. It is one of the few remaining original seventeenth-century houses along the street. The Row level and above has been dated to around 1643, although much of the facade was reconstructed during the nineteenth century. Nos 9–15 were rebuilt in 1900 by T.M. Lockwood, and later extended by his sons, to form a department store for Richard Jones. The facade is heavily timber-framed, with oriel windows and turrets. Nos 5–7 are also timber-framed and were completed by Lockwood in 1874. The corner site of Eastgate Street is the former location of what was known as Dark Row, and prior to that it was Buttershops or Buttershops Row, dating back to the thirteenth century. It became known as Dark Row because the stallboards were used for little shops, which meant the Row was closed in. Parts of the earlier Row buildings survive at the rear,