Now I discovered St John Street about a month after this picture was taken and became captivated by these 18th and early 19th century houses.
And a lot of other people have also been fascinated by them and you can see why because in a city which is constantly reinventing itself these are a link to a time when Castlefield was being developed.
Added to this over the years I have become intrigued by one house in particular, which is number 11.
This was the home of the Holt family who built the house in the early 1790s and occupied it well into the middle of the following century.
They had made their money from making the wooden engraving blocks used in calico printing, went on to own an extensive portfolio of properties in the surrounding streets and in the 1830s settled in a fine house in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
The first to make the move to the country were James and Hannah Holt who were followed by their children and grandchildren.
And during the writing of the Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy I not only got permission to tour number 11 but was given access to the deeds.
The 1969 image of the street have been unearthed by who came across it while engaged in a new project working on the Town Hall Photographer's Collection Digitisation Project, in the Central Library, which currently is Volunteer led and Volunteer staffed.
The negatives in the collection are dated from 1956 to 2007 and there are approximately 200,000 negatives to be digitised at three minutes a scan.
There are a dozen or so in the small collection and what struck me is that in those that contain people all of them are dressed in jackets and ties and in the case of women all carry those handbags.
But for me the other surprise was that modern bit of building which ran from the double fronted number 11 back towards Deansgate.
I remember at the time thinking how out of keeping it was with the sweep of elegant period houses.
And then I guess sometime at the turn of the century I noticed that the spot was now occupied by a row of imitation 18th century properties.
For a while I was puzzled and almost doubted that they were relatively new, but Neil’s picture confirms my memory.
Pictures; St John Street, 1969, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and in 2011 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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| South side of St John Street, including number. 11, 1969 |
Added to this over the years I have become intrigued by one house in particular, which is number 11.
This was the home of the Holt family who built the house in the early 1790s and occupied it well into the middle of the following century.
They had made their money from making the wooden engraving blocks used in calico printing, went on to own an extensive portfolio of properties in the surrounding streets and in the 1830s settled in a fine house in Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
 |
| South side of St John Street, including number. 11, 2011 |
And during the writing of the Story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy I not only got permission to tour number 11 but was given access to the deeds.
The 1969 image of the street have been unearthed by who came across it while engaged in a new project working on the Town Hall Photographer's Collection Digitisation Project, in the Central Library, which currently is Volunteer led and Volunteer staffed.
The negatives in the collection are dated from 1956 to 2007 and there are approximately 200,000 negatives to be digitised at three minutes a scan.
There are a dozen or so in the small collection and what struck me is that in those that contain people all of them are dressed in jackets and ties and in the case of women all carry those handbags.
But for me the other surprise was that modern bit of building which ran from the double fronted number 11 back towards Deansgate.
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| Detail of St John Street, 1969 |
And then I guess sometime at the turn of the century I noticed that the spot was now occupied by a row of imitation 18th century properties.
For a while I was puzzled and almost doubted that they were relatively new, but Neil’s picture confirms my memory.
Pictures; St John Street, 1969, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass and in 2011 from the collection of Andrew Simpson
As one of the first if not the first claimant of victim of criminal injury in 1968/69 I was sent to John St for a accesment of my injury
ReplyDeleteIn the 1969 image the ‘modern’ section appears to be an early Victorian block, with a mid 20c roughcast top dressing. The windows look to be 19th or early 20c. It has been stripped back to the original brick, with style/age appropriate windows fitted as part of the renovation.
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