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The Crystal Rooms, Hereford
Building Survey
Excavation |
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The site of the former Crystal Rooms
nightclub (affectionately known by many Herefordians as
'Sticky Carpets'), together with the former laundrette next
to it and the old Wesleyan Chapel to the rear, is currently
being redeveloped by Perfection Homes Ltd.
The building, on Bridge
Street, was originally constructed for local seed merchants,
Franklin Barnes. |
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The site of the former Crystal Rooms nightclub
(affectionately known by many Herefordians as 'Sticky Carpets') the old
laundrette next to it and the old Wesleyan Chapel to the rear, is
currently being
redeveloped by Perfection Homes Ltd.
Before they were demolished he
buildings were recorded by Archenfield Archaeology and John van Laun
Associates. A report on the buildings by John van Laun can be found in
the Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club for 2007. |
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The 1930s architect's
design for the new Franklin Barnes buildings
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A
long-debated feature known as the King’s Ditch runs through the rear
of properties on the east side of Bridge Street. The ditch is
presumed to be a former water course, draining into the Wye from the
north.
Bridge
Street itself follows the line of a natural gravel ridge leading to
the old Wye Bridge. The date of the first bridge at Hereford is unknown
but the present bridge was built around 1490.
The
development of the bridge altered the street pattern in this area
of Hereford. The road leading to the ford would have lost importance
and was eventually lost to gardens associated with the Bishop’s Palace.
The origin of Gwynne Street was probably as a short cut –
as a track from the cathedral to the new bridge. It would have
crossed the line of the King’s Ditch and gradually achieved the status
of a narrow winding lane.
John
Speede’s map of 1610 shows small properties that fronted both Bridge
Street and Gwynne Street, and a more detailed survey by Isaac Taylor (1757)
shows that the properties near the bridge all had rear access onto
Gwynne Street. The Gwynne Street properties had limited access
through passages. To the south of Gwynne Street an open area between
these buildings and the Bishop's Palace is in the area of where Taylor’s
map possibly marks the line of the King’s Ditch.
The
first detailed survey of the city was by the newly appointed City
Engineer Timothy Curley in the1850s and shows
changes to properties fronting Bridge Street. As far north as
Gwynne Street, properties were demolished and rebuilt set back from
a widened Bridge Street. This was probably related to the widening
of the bridge in 1828.
The
development site is defined as a rectangular plot of land that includes
the plots of 12 – 13 Bridge Street and most of the south-facing
elevation of the rear of the Crystal Rooms building along Gwynne Street.
The site occupies 40 metres along the Bridge Street frontage and runs
east for approximately 50 metres. The east end of the site is
now defined by a north-south polychrome warehouse built over the line
of the Kings Ditch. It was probably this feature that originally
defined the eastern boundary of these and other plots that run east
from Bridge Street.
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Bridge Street looking north towards the Orange Tree public house |
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Bridge Street looking south towards the bridge with the 17th century Black Lion on the
opposite side of the road |
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The
site's development
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At
the site of 12 Bridge Street Taylor’s map of 1757 shows a roughly
square building fronting Bridge Street that had long rectangular extensions
to the rear and a northern boundary that ran east towards the Kings
Ditch. In 1829 the Wesleyan Chapel was constructed in the rear
garden of the property north of number 12 and was positioned central
to a passageway that gave access from the street. A small toilet
block was at the rear and the remaining garden space of the houses
on the frontage.
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At
number 13 a passage is shown running from Bridge Street to Gwynne
Street through a court which lay within the site of the Royal Oak.
This layout could suggest that the site was occupied by a coaching
inn. This arrangement would have been typical for the time – coaches
could be run in from the main street into a courtyard which would
have been surrounded by veranda-type accommodation. Further evidence
suggesting that the Royal Oak (or an inn at least) was in place by
1757 comes from a photograph of Franklin Barnes prior to 1936. Here
we have an early 18th century front with flush eight-light
windows at the first floor. Obviously this must be the original Royal
Oak front (excepting the rearrangement of the shop front). However,
the 1757 plan does not account for a single block being shown by 1836.
On
both maps the passage emerges from the rear of the building and, as
far as we can tell, follows the same course. The range of buildings
at the rear appears to be similar on both maps – long and fairly narrow
and continuing along Gwynne Street all of which suggests that they
were stables. Within the eastern part there is a vestige of the rectangular
range shown in 1858 and in 1888 which probably continued up
until demolition in 1936.
South
of the site a small Court is shown in 1757 but not 1836. This can
be roughly equated with that shown in 1858 and 1904. Although linked
to Bridge Street in 1757 the passage alone is shown in 1836 and later
this was built over.
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Conjectural layout of the site based on Isaac Taylor's map of 1757 and
Wood's map of 1836
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Curley’s
map of c1855 showing drainage runs and his finished map of
1858 provide good detail of the site.
At
the site of number 12 the building was replaced by the current standing
building, which butted the Royal Oak and the building to the north.
It was a larger three story residential building that blocked access
to the rear garden, which must have been through the house itself.
There are rectangular outbuildings attached to the rear of the house,
possibly those shown on the 1757 map.
The
greatest change from the previous phase is the large rectangular covered
area at the rear of the Royal Oak. Although the Alhambra was not opened
until September 1867 the shape of this building suggests that it was
intended to hold an audience. If this building was (or was to become)
the Alhambra it would have had a coved ceiling and a balcony with
ornamental balustrading supported on wooden columns running around
three sides of the hall. The balcony was reached by an ornamental
staircase at the back of the hall. The lighting was by gas.
In a Directory of 1876-77 the building was referred to as a lecture
hall — ‘a spacious room, well fitted up, capable of seating about
700 persons’. How the building worked can be guessed at from Curley’s
map. This shows a covered way between the Royal Oak and the hall with
access to the passage into Gwynne Street running south alongside the
Alhambra. In other words, instead of running directly from the back
of the Royal Oak it made a dogleg around the new building. If
the stage was at the Royal Oak end (as seems likely) then the wings
may have been accommodated in two small side buildings one of which
gave access to an arm which ran along the north boundary where there
was a single range of six or so single storey outhouses including
lavatories – Curley’s map shows the arrangement for drainage.
The
side passage, apart from being a thoroughfare between Gwynne Street
and the Royal Oak, also gave access to the Court shown in 1757 the
original passageway having been built over. As for the stables
along Gwynne Street they appear to be much the same size and shape
as in Phase 1 and projecting slightly more into Gwynne Street than
the boundary wall of the 1936 replacement.
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Alterations
and additions shown on Timothy Curley's plan of the 1850s
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In
1866-8 the chapel was enlarged west towards the street frontage and
it’s likely that the two street front properties were demolished at
the same time. There are not present on the 1886 map and the
preserved garden boundary to the rear of the chapel was replaced by
a smaller. The frontage had a planted garden separated from
the street by a stone wall and iron fence.
The
Royal Oak closed sometime before 1879 and this seems to chime with
the date of the building of the polychrome warehouse (built by 1886).
A trade heading, although highly ambitious of what actually took place
shows the Gwynne Street area under Rogers and Co Seed and Corn Merchants,
which was founded in 1863.
By
1886 the southern boundary to the old Royal Oak site had stretched
a little and now embraced the area shown as part of Rogers & Co’s
aspirations for a grand scheme. These boundary changes were effected
by making a parallel line to the southern boundary of No 14 which
may have been a reinstatement of an old boundary. The stables
along Gwynne Street were still in evidence but there had been infilling
between them and the ‘Alhambra’. The arm extending from the north
end of the ‘Royal Oak’ front had been shortened but replaced by a
long rectangular building stretching up to the polychrome warehouse.
Thus much of the form of the 1936 site was occupied by buildings.
Although
a sub-phase of 3a, during this time the Alhambra is said to have closed
finally (1892). Nevertheless, up until 1892 it seems that it must
have had a dual purpose and its outline can still be seen right up
until 1929. In this phase there was a change in the situation of the
south Court. In Phase 3a it is not shown but this might be an omission
on the part of the cartographer. But in Phase 3b it can be found again
but little west towards Bridge Street.
By
1912 Rogers & Co had been taken over by Franklin Barnes &
Co. Even so the old theatre, still intact, was proposed for renovation
as a theatre in 1928. But by 1929 the southern area, which was bounded
by the reinstatement of a line at the rear of No 14, had been partially
claimed to form the south wing of what was to become the 1936 Art
Deco building. In 1929 the old stables were still in place along Gwynne
Street and projecting a little in front of the polychrome warehouse.
This then was the state of the site on the eve of its total remodelling.
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The
buildings at the time of the first and second edition OS maps (1886 - 1904)
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The
site in 1929. The stables still occupy the same site but part of the
property extends into part of the parcel of land which was
formerly number 14 |
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