Tag: W.G. Davies

Categories
People

The forgotten face behind many of Sheffield’s buildings

Central Library and Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield

No matter where you look, there is evidence of William George Davies’ work in Sheffield. The Shropshire-born architect designed several landmark buildings, but his name remains unknown to most people. The few mentions he gets refer to him as W.G. Davies and it takes a bit of deep digging to discover his full name.

He’s best known for designing the Central Library and Graves Art Gallery on Surrey Street, built between 1929 and 1934, a building that is crumbling and currently languishing behind metal barriers to prevent injury to passers-by.

W.G. Davies was born in 1888, and educated at Wem Grammar School and Shrewsbury School, subsequently taking his degrees at the Liverpool University School of Architecture. After qualifying as an architect, he gained experience as the assistant architect at Bradford Corporation, before joining Essex County Council to design elementary and secondary schools, and oversee maintenance for about 474 schools, mainly within the London area.

In 1924, Davies became architect to Belfast Education Committee where he stayed  for two years. When Frederick Ernest Pearce Edwards stepped down as Sheffield Corporation’s city architect in 1926, Davies beat seven applicants to the post, and remained until his retirement in 1950.

It was a lucrative role for Davies because Sheffield Corporation designed its own public buildings and had embarked on a massive housebuilding programme to replace its slums.

One of his first jobs was to inspect housing estate construction at Wybourn and Manor, and by 1938-1939 the total number of new flats and houses handed over by his department was 2,928, an average of 56 new properties a week.

War aside, Davies’ tenure resulted in dozens of new public buildings. Some remain but many have been lost: –

Division Street Fire Station, Edward Street Flats, Firth Park Library, Norfolk Secondary School, High Storrs School, annexe to Mappin Art Gallery, Prince Edward School, the Maternity and Child Welfare Centre in Orchard Place, Niagara Recreation Ground and Pavilion for the City Police, Lodge Moor Hospital extensions, Tenter Street Tram and Bus Depot, Sharrow Lane Blind School and Workshops, Wisewood School, King Edward VII Swimming Pool, Arbourthorne School, Woodthorpe Baths, Shirecliffe School, the City General Hospital extensions and the restoration of Beauchief Abbey.

Former Division Street Fire Station, Sheffield

Two of his last jobs before retirement were the construction of Manor Library and the conversion of Totley Hall.

We must also thank Davies for saving the remains of Sheffield Castle which will hopefully see the light of day again soon. In 1930, he designed the new market at Castle Hill, allowing walling and timber beams, relics from the castle, to be preserved in its basement.

Another of his projects, Graves Park Pavilion in 1927, gained recent notoriety after the Rose Garden Café was closed due to its unsafe condition. It mirrors the fortunes of his best work at the Central Library, and while Sheffield was good at constructing public buildings it struggled to maintain them.

W.G. Davies was replaced as city architect by J. Lewis Womersley in 1953.

William George Davies

©2023 David Poole. All Rights Reserved.

Categories
Buildings

Moorfields Flats – “A standing disgrace to Sheffield for all time.”

Moorfield Flats. Designed by W.G. Davies (1933-1934). Image: DJP/2023

For those that don’t know, Moorfields is the short stretch of ring-road between Gibraltar Street and Shalesmoor and is at risk of being forgotten because most people have never heard of it. Once upon a time this was a small piece of common land, but as the city expanded it became one of the poorest districts of Sheffield.

Its name survives in the 1930s block of flats that wouldn’t look out of place in the London suburbs.

Moorfields Flats were built in 1933-1934 as part of Sheffield’s big slum clearance scheme. It was anticipated that those living in the back-to-back terraces around Scotland Street would move here. But there was a problem. People with families didn’t want to go into the flats, preferring instead to move to new council estates that were being constructed at Woodthorpe and Arbourthorne, which came with gardens.

Nor were the flats without its critics.

“The flats were not buildings of which Sheffield Corporation could be proud. No person in his right senses would choose to live in the Moorfields flats and they would be a standing disgrace to Sheffield for all time,” said Alderman C.W. Gascoigne in 1934.

It was a slight on its designer, city architect W.G. Davies, who had created 37 flats, built over three storeys above seven shops that fronted the building.

Each flat had two or three bedrooms, kitchen, scullery, and were cheaper in price than new council houses, although comparable in size.

“Each flat had a washing copper and provision for drying the weekly wash in either the courts at the back of the flats, or by means of a clothes line along the front balconies attached to the flats.”

But people refused to live in them and by October 1934 the council had only managed to sign up twenty tenants while the shops were described as a ‘white elephant’ with only one application of interest.

Artist impression. September 1933. Image: British Newspaper Archive

A letter from Darrell H. Foxton also reached the Sheffield Independent: –

“The rents of the Moorfields Flats are 8s 7d. and 9s 8d., according to size, and although they are a paradise in comparison to the squalid hovels which the present tenants are used to, so many are on relief or unemployment that it is quite impossible for them to furnish the rooms adequately. On many of the floors are neither carpet nor linoleum.”

The flats were eventually occupied, as were the shops beneath, but correct me if I am wrong, Moorfields flats have never really been loved, and are definitely showing their age.

But there is a potential twist to the story and that involves the advancement and gentrification of Kelham Island that is almost upon the back of the property.

Might we see the block sold, demolished, and replaced with twenty-first century apartments? Or might we see the flats sold to a developer to turn into trendy private apartments in the same way as Park Hill?

The answer will come in the next few years.

Moorfields Flats. The flats never lived up to their name. Image: DJP/2023
The obligatory washing line. Old properties behind the flats are being demolished to make way for new developments. Image: DJP/2023

©2023 David Poole. All Rights Reserved.

Categories
Buildings

Graves Park Pavilion – Blatant neglect, or is it time to rebuild?

The current plight of the Rose garden Café, Graves Park. It was designed as a pavilion by W.G. Davies in 1927 and opened by the Lord Mayor, J.G. Graves. The building is considered structurally unsafe. Image: Andy Kershaw.

It seems incredible that a city that promotes itself as an ‘Outdoor City’ won’t have any refreshment facilities in its largest park. I refer to the sudden closure of the Rose Garden Café in Graves Park, a story breaking across the media.

The reason behind the closure, and its shielding behind metal railings, is the unsafe condition of the building.

The council estimates that it will cost at least £550k to repair the building and they only have £200k. A consultant report says that there is significant roof sag, dormer windows leaning inwards, leaking roof, blocked drains, bulging of the soffit beams both sides of the entrance, and a long list of other problems. According to the report, “It has reached the end of its design life.”

“It is not recommended to refurbish the Rose Garden Café,” says the report. “Unless it is considered to be of sufficient historic interest and additional funding is readily available.  Any building can be repaired but at a cost.  The café is not listed but the repair details involved would be as if it was listed. It is recommended that the café and rear kitchen/store extension be demolished and the newer toilet block retained. For comparison a new build modular of 500 square metres will be circa £425,000.”

The Rose Garden Café was built as a pavilion and tearoom in 1927 by Sheffield Corporation’s Parks Committee to the designs of city architect W.G. Davies.

It was constructed by Reeves Charlesworth Ltd at a cost of £2,500.

The ‘new’ pavilion and tea house erected in the old orchard of the summer house at Graves Park. Construction in 1927. Image: British Newspaper Archive.

The pavilion was built close to Summerhouse Wood, in the old orchard of a summer house. It was here that park keepers used to toll the bell to warn users that the park was closing. After this the gates would be locked, and you were not allowed in.

According to Ian Rotherham, from Sheffield Hallam University, the summer house survived until demolition by Sheffield City Council in the early 1970s.

“We believe that this may have been a possible Tudor hunting tower for the old deer parks alongside the now Hemsworth Road.”

The opening ceremony for the pavilion was on July 29, 1927, when David Flather, Master Cutler, handed the Lord Mayor, Alderman J.G. Graves, a gold key, a gift from the building contractor. Flather said that the Cutlers’ Company had the greatest admiration for the work which the Lord Mayor was doing for the city. It was J.G. Graves who had gifted the park to Sheffield in 1925.

The Pavilion in Graves Park, which the Lord Mayor (Alderman J.G. Graves) opened in July 1927. Image: British Newspaper Archive

The Lord Mayor said he regarded the building of the pavilion as a remunerative undertaking and not as a luxury expenditure. If the Council continued to encourage the public to make use of the natural advantages of the city and to indulge in healthy recreation, then there would be less spent on hospital services, the drink and gambling evils would decrease and there would be less policemen needed.

“We have facilities for accommodating considerable numbers of our fellow citizens from the more distant parts of Sheffield. We could, with the help of the Tramways Committee, who will, I am sure, be reasonable, provide facilities for bringing parties of people from all parts of the city, particularly the East End. I refer to mothers’ unions, old folks’ treats, and others. I hope it will be possible to entertain 100 or 150 people at given dates in advance and that the facilities will be taken advantage of at ordinary times.”

The Master Cutler presenting the key to the Lord Mayor at the opening of the Pavilion in Graves Park. 1927. Image: British Newspaper Archive.

A year later, in 1928, the rose garden was laid out in front of the pavilion, prompting J.G. Graves to say that he hadn’t seen anything better outside Regent’s Park.

Happy times. But in the 95 years since, Sheffield City Council has woefully neglected Graves Park.

“Like the rest of Graves Park, the cafe building belongs to The Graves Park Charity,” says the Friends of Graves Park. “The problem has always been that the trustees of the charity are Sheffield councillors, and whilst they are required to make decisions in the best interests of the charity there have been many occasions where some might suggest they put the interest of the council first.”

J.G. Graves will rightly feel miffed in his grave (no pun intended), because the condition of the old pavilion is a shocking indictment.

Buildings should last longer than 100 years (although many don’t) and with careful maintenance will be structurally safe. On hindsight, the construction of the pavilion may have had design defects and the build quality may have been inadequate.

Allegedly, the current tenant has paid over £400K in rent and a share of his profits to Sheffield City Council over the past 14 years, but no maintenance on the building has been completed.

Gardens at front of the pavilion, Graves Park. Image: Picture Sheffield

I suspect the likely outcome will be demolition, and with inadequate funds in the budget for a replacement, the park might be left without any facilities.

It might be the case, as in some other cities around the world, that any development is handed to private enterprise, to build, and operate, a replacement facility. And might this create an opportunity to rebuild incorporating parts of the old pavilion?

A taste of things to come? Architects around the world are creating contemporary park pavilions. But would these last another 100 years? Image: Archello

©2022 David Poole. All Rights Reserved.