Urban architects reach for the sky

A few weeks ago, Sheffield councillor Chris Rosling-Josephs, called on developers to be ‘more creative’ and build a 50 storey tower block so the city can have taller buildings than Leeds.

This might well happen, but for the time being the tallest building in Yorkshire is Altus House in Leeds, at 374ft. Sheffield’s tallest building is City Lofts, or St Paul’s Tower, at 331ft.

But the tallest building crown will switch to Sheffield soon.

Work has started on Code Sheffield, three blocks of 12, 17 and 38 storeys costing £100m. Foundations are being dug on the site which borders Rockingham Street, Wellington Street, and Trafalgar Street, and adjacent to Kangaroo Works. Once completed it will be 383ft tall.

It is a significant change for this part of the city centre which was once developed with terraced back-to-back housing and small factories.

The site of Code Sheffield is no different, except that the eastern part of the site was once Mount Tabor Chapel, with a small steel works (Foundling Works or Samuel Buckley Styrian Steel Works) to the south-east along Rockingham Street.

*Rockingham Street, demolition of Saville Press Ltd., No 37, Wellington Street (former Mount Tabor Chapel, United Methodist Free Church). Image: Picture Sheffield*

*Same place as above. The site from the south-east, showing garage and Wellington House looking north*

*Same place as above. Recent photograph of excavations for Code Sheffield*

The Chapel was built in 1837-1838 for the Reverend Robert Aitken, a Wesleyan minister. The Wesleyan Reformers purchased the chapel in 1853 and redecorated it as the Mount Tabor Chapel but did not alter the layout. A Sunday School was later built on the land to the west. Both buildings are shown on 1923 and 1935 OS maps and there were plans to improve it in the 1940s, but by the 1950s it had been replaced by the Mount Tabor Printing Works.

*Interior of Mount Tabor United Free Methodist Chapel, Wellington Street. Dated 1940-1959. Image: Picture Sheffield*

Nos. 37 – 53 Wellington Street at junction with Trafalgar Street, looking towards Rockingham Street junction. Court 4 at rear of back to back properties in foreground. Mount Tabor United Free Methodist Church and Sunday School, in background. Dated 1938. Image: Picture Sheffield

The printing works were recorded in the trade directories of 1948 and 1957 as belonging to Saville Press Ltd and Greeting Card Ltd. This building was demolished in 1962-63.

Later buildings on the site included the telephone exchange, which replaced back to back housing, last occupied by the South Yorkshire Housing Association, and Wellington House, which contained Clark and Partners, providers of mobility aids and services.

The One-Stop garage at 210 Rockingham Street was recorded as a garage in 1968 and later as motor radiator repair shop for W.H. Tyas, subsequently occupied by Marston Radiator Services.

All these buildings were cleared in advance of present building work.

However, there is a further twist as to which city will have the tallest building. Plans have already been approved for a 43-storey tower block in Leeds.

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