Of bugs and builders and a little more about number 84 Chorlton Road

Number 84 Chorlton Road in 2014

I am always drawn to how old buildings reveal their secrets just by looking at their physical appearance.

And number 84 Chorlton Road is one of these.

I have passed it over the years and began writing about it when Andy Robertson shared some of his pictures of the place.*

It is and has been the builder’s yard of Thomas Griffiths from the 1870s.

Briefly between 1871 and 1876 it was the home of Joseph Griffiths whose father had founded the firm in 1843.  The Griffiths were originally from Cheshire but for a few decades during the middle of the 19th century they were living in Manchester.

In 1871 84 Chorlton Road was the family home of Joseph and Jane Griffiths and their five children.  Ten years later they have moved.

Numbers 84 & 86 in 1894

In 1894 the site was occupied by two semi detached properties beside the Manchester Tramways Company Depot which sat beside and behind the yard.

But the site remained theirs as it still is today.

Looking at the building reveals much that has changed.

There is still what looks like the front door and front room window of one of the houses but at some point the additional bits including the entrance were built along with newer build which may once have been a showroom.

Nor are the street directories of much help.

Back in 1876, the Griffiths seem to have moved out for while the firm is still registered at the address so is Thomas Quick who described himself as a clerk and may have been an employee who lived three and also at 84a was Henry Green photographer which would suggest the house has been sublet.

At 86 was Jane Smith “householder” which I rather think must be the other semi detached property. Beyond that heading down Chorlton Road to Brook’s Bar was still open land which by 1911 had been developed with a row of residential properties.

Now the extent to which these may have been pleasant places to live is conditional on how far the houses were affected by the Carriage Company’s yard which well in the early 20th century had a reputation as the origin of the bugs which seemed to invade the cinema close by.

It is one of those fascinating stories recounted in the Golden Years of Manchester’s Picture Houses.**

But more on that another time.

Revealing the story of the building from the yard, 2014

Number 84 Chorlton Road still has lots to reveal, and I guess it will be one of those projects which involve crawling over the directories for the period after 1876, and matching them with the Rate Books census returns and maps.

And looking at the rear of the building from the yard does offer up clues to how the house was transformed.

The entrance looks to be a later addition but the brickwork seems to be the same as the house and I guess may have come from the semi detached property which was demolished.

Later still showrooms to the left were added, a window bricked up and new window frames installed.

Of course I could be hopelessly wrong but tat only adds to to the story.

Pictures; from the collection of Andy Robertson, and detail of Chorlton Road in 1894 from the OS for South Lancashire, 1893, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://www.digitalarchives.co.uk/

*Sometimes things don’t change that much, nu 84 Chorlton Road, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/sometimes-things-dont-change-that-much.html

** *The Golden Years of Manchester's Picture Houses, Derek J Southall, http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/the-golden-years-of-manchesters-picture-houses.html#sthash.K4JJYJv9.dpuf