Now just when I had almost given up on Doenberg, that house on the corner of Wood Road and College Road, a little bit more of its history surfaces, courtesy of the one of the archivists at Manchester Cathedral.*
Now we had left the story just as the house was to be bought for the Dean of Manchester in 1934.
It was built in 1898 by Robert Rohleder and “was the first house in the district to be equipped with electric light, and the first to be connected with the Chorlton telephone exchange [and] had been built largely according to his own design.”*
It contained “some notable stained glass windows” and a garden which Mr Rohleder had "spent thousands of pounds upon”** converting from an empty field into something quite impressive.
Tracking its history after 1934 proved a bit illusive. It became a children’s home sometime around 1960 but the missing years from 1934 intrigued me not least because by 1946 the Dean was living elsewhere.
And part of the answer came from the Cathedrals’ records.
“1934 – The Ecclesiastical Commissioners disapproved the purchase of a property ‘West View’ because of leasehold tenure. They therefore approved the purchase of ‘Doenburg ‘ at the reduced price of £3,400.
1942 – The Corporation has agreed to a rent of £115 a year for the Deanery and will accept responsibility for its maintenance.
There is no indication at this stage as to who will occupy the building, presumably because of the withholding of information during the war.
1946 – An offer of £3,500 from Mr Howley for the Deanery to be paid by the Corporation, the sum to be retained as compensation for damage sustained during the occupation of the house by its Fire Service.”***
So during some at least of the missing years the house was given over to the Fire Service.
And a bit more of the jig saw falls into place.
Pictures; courtesy of Sylvia Waltering,
*Doenberg, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Doenberg
**New Home for Dean of Manchester, Manchester Guardian, December 14, 1934
***Mr Breaks, Volunteer Archivist, archives@manchestercathedral.org
It was built in 1898 by Robert Rohleder and “was the first house in the district to be equipped with electric light, and the first to be connected with the Chorlton telephone exchange [and] had been built largely according to his own design.”*
It contained “some notable stained glass windows” and a garden which Mr Rohleder had "spent thousands of pounds upon”** converting from an empty field into something quite impressive.
Tracking its history after 1934 proved a bit illusive. It became a children’s home sometime around 1960 but the missing years from 1934 intrigued me not least because by 1946 the Dean was living elsewhere.
And part of the answer came from the Cathedrals’ records.
“1934 – The Ecclesiastical Commissioners disapproved the purchase of a property ‘West View’ because of leasehold tenure. They therefore approved the purchase of ‘Doenburg ‘ at the reduced price of £3,400.
There is no indication at this stage as to who will occupy the building, presumably because of the withholding of information during the war.
1946 – An offer of £3,500 from Mr Howley for the Deanery to be paid by the Corporation, the sum to be retained as compensation for damage sustained during the occupation of the house by its Fire Service.”***
So during some at least of the missing years the house was given over to the Fire Service.
And a bit more of the jig saw falls into place.
Pictures; courtesy of Sylvia Waltering,
*Doenberg, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Doenberg
**New Home for Dean of Manchester, Manchester Guardian, December 14, 1934
***Mr Breaks, Volunteer Archivist, archives@manchestercathedral.org
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