shuttered entrance to the first floor staircase
Chapel Walk has gone through a tough time of late, but here’s positive news about one of its most interesting buildings.
Fowler Sandford on behalf of The Twelve Capital Burgesses and Commonalty of the Town and Parish of Sheffield in the County of York have submitted a planning application for The Howard Building, which incorporates retail units 15-31 Chapel Walk to the ground floor and first floor offices above. The building fronts Chapel Walk with the rear elevation facing Black Swan Walk.
The proposal relates to the refurbishment of the promenade of shopfronts to improve the street scene along Chapel Walk within the City Centre Conservation Area, alongside the refurbishment and replacement of first floor office windows to the front and rear elevations, and the repair and restoration of the original roof lights. These works will accompany the refurbishment of the vacant first floor offices along with their entrance leading onto Chapel Walk.
modern shopfronts, shutters and the central entranceway to
The Howard Gallery. Image: Walker Wood
It is thought that this narrow strip of buildings may reflect the layout of medieval burbage plots, with No. 9 Fargate (formerly Austin Reed) effectively standing at its head.
The building was designed by Flockton Gibbs & Flockton alongside Alwyn Henry Holland whose provisions store was at No. 9 Fargate, with associated offices and Holland’s Café located in the Howard Building.
Alwyn Henry Holland also established The Howard Gallery in rooms above the shops in Chapel Walk, the gallery opening its doors to the public at the end of the nineteenth century. Consisting of eight ground floor shops, along with Howard’s Café and Howard Gallery, the business failed in 1909 and by 1919 it housed a billiards saloon and offices.
Few of the internal gallery features remain but there are partly exposed roof trusses, stained glass windows to the staircase, and areas of original roof lanterns, installed to allow natural light into the gallery beneath.
the west wing of the former Howard Gallery. Image: Walker Wood
glazing has been removed and blocked up. It is the intention
to reinstate this. Image: Walker Wood
Externally, above the central staircase entrance, a reminder of the origins of the building’s use is visible within a carved stone relief.
Named by Holland after the Duke of Norfolk, the relief incorporates the ‘Howard Gallery’ name set within a carved treescape, celebrating the duke’s contribution to the city by granting public access to his parkland at Norfolk Park in the mid-nineteenth century, which he would later go on to donate to the city.
The application states that all remaining historical features will be retained and restored.
Read more about Alwyn Henry Holland and the Howard Gallery here
Read more about No.9 Fargate here
Read more about Black Swan Walk here
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