131 Beech Road is today a boarded up ruin. Half its roof was lost to a fire and despite stories that it will be restored and converted into apartments it stands neglected and for the most part forgotten.
But it was not always so. Once it was a grand enough house commanding fine views across Chorlton Row to High Lane and beyond. It was during the 1840s through to the ‘60s the home of Daniel Sharp. There is every reason to suppose it dates back much earlier. Daniel Sharp described himself as a man of independent wealth and a long with a handful of other people was at the top of the social pile here in Chorlton.
There is every reason to suppose it dates back much earlier. Just a little of its faded elegance can be made out from Tony Walker’s picture from the 1980s.In it’s time it must have been a pleasant place to live, surrounded by its own gardens and cut off from Chorlton Row* by a high wall.
But time has not been kind to the place and by the end of the 19th century it served as a home and trading place, and a little later gained the ugly brick extension. Later still it was divided into bed sits before being abandoned, taken over by squatters and finally vandalised and set on fire.
Tony’s picture does however open one last episode in its history, which dates back to the time of the photograph. One night sometime in the mid 1980s we were walking past the place and noticed signs that advertised the grounds as a car park which according to my friend was all very irregular as there had been no planning permission granted for such use.
It was perhaps fortunate that before any of us could raise the issue with the Corporation we noticed that the firm was based in London and the vehicles parked up consisted of a London black cab and a London Transport bus. Had we looked a little closer at the signboard above the entrance to the brick extension we might have recognised the name Bulman and made the link with a television drama. And had we then turned up in the morning we would have seen the TV crew and actors.
Such today is Beech Road that it regularly features in television dramas and was the backdrop for the film, Looking for Eric, which provided gainful employment for some of our residents.
It would be nice to think that a restored 113 Beech Road could become a backdrop for a period drama, as well as a comfortable home. We shall have to see.
Picture; 131 Beech Road from the collection of Tony Walker
*Chorlton Row was the old name for Beech Road
But it was not always so. Once it was a grand enough house commanding fine views across Chorlton Row to High Lane and beyond. It was during the 1840s through to the ‘60s the home of Daniel Sharp. There is every reason to suppose it dates back much earlier. Daniel Sharp described himself as a man of independent wealth and a long with a handful of other people was at the top of the social pile here in Chorlton.
There is every reason to suppose it dates back much earlier. Just a little of its faded elegance can be made out from Tony Walker’s picture from the 1980s.In it’s time it must have been a pleasant place to live, surrounded by its own gardens and cut off from Chorlton Row* by a high wall.
But time has not been kind to the place and by the end of the 19th century it served as a home and trading place, and a little later gained the ugly brick extension. Later still it was divided into bed sits before being abandoned, taken over by squatters and finally vandalised and set on fire.
Tony’s picture does however open one last episode in its history, which dates back to the time of the photograph. One night sometime in the mid 1980s we were walking past the place and noticed signs that advertised the grounds as a car park which according to my friend was all very irregular as there had been no planning permission granted for such use.
It was perhaps fortunate that before any of us could raise the issue with the Corporation we noticed that the firm was based in London and the vehicles parked up consisted of a London black cab and a London Transport bus. Had we looked a little closer at the signboard above the entrance to the brick extension we might have recognised the name Bulman and made the link with a television drama. And had we then turned up in the morning we would have seen the TV crew and actors.
Such today is Beech Road that it regularly features in television dramas and was the backdrop for the film, Looking for Eric, which provided gainful employment for some of our residents.
It would be nice to think that a restored 113 Beech Road could become a backdrop for a period drama, as well as a comfortable home. We shall have to see.
Picture; 131 Beech Road from the collection of Tony Walker
*Chorlton Row was the old name for Beech Road
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