Well yes, it is a play on that old song The Green Door which is all about the mystery of what was behind the door.
The song was written by Marvin Moore to the music composed by Bob ‘Hutch’ Davie in 1956 and was a hit, recorded by Jim Lowe in the United States, and Frankie Vaughan in Britain.
I grew up with the mystery and in 1981 for some silly reason bought the version by Shakin’ Stevens which I promptly lost.
I suspect the story behind this green door will be equally intriguing and given that for many decades it was a residential home there will be plenty of stories.
When I passed in 2019 it was empty and waiting for something to happen.
It could be developed into fine apartments with views across the grounds of the hospital opposite, or face the fate of many grand old buildings which are left neglected, fall victim to vandalism and finally are demolished.
And having passed it a few times when we were down visiting our Polly and Joshua, I decided to go digging for its past.
In 1916 it was the home of a Mr. John Frears, and consisted of 13 rooms with the grand name of Hillsborough.
Here Mr. Frears lived with his wife, Minnie, their five children and one servant, who described herself as the cook.
He was a director of the Frears Bread Company who were located at 11 Frog Lane in 1916.
Alas that building has gone, but I can track him back to a more modest property on Osborne Road, and follow his path on in to 1924 when he applied to be admitted to Freedom of the City of London, in the Company of the Framework Knitters and to his death in 1937 when he was still at Hillsborough, and left £26,107.
His father ran a grocer’s business on Northgate Street in 1870 and progressed to running the bakery on Frog Lane by 1881, at which point the young John was an art student.
There will be more about the Frears family and a trawl of the directories for the period after 1936 should fix the moment that Hillsborough became a residential home.
But for now, for no other reason than I like the song I will close with,
“There's an old piano
And they play it hot behind the green door
Don't know what they're doing
But they laugh a lot behind the green door
Wish they'd let me in so I could find out”,
Location; Leicester
Pictures; Hillsborough, Westcoates Drive, Leicester, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
The song was written by Marvin Moore to the music composed by Bob ‘Hutch’ Davie in 1956 and was a hit, recorded by Jim Lowe in the United States, and Frankie Vaughan in Britain.
I grew up with the mystery and in 1981 for some silly reason bought the version by Shakin’ Stevens which I promptly lost.
I suspect the story behind this green door will be equally intriguing and given that for many decades it was a residential home there will be plenty of stories.
When I passed in 2019 it was empty and waiting for something to happen.
It could be developed into fine apartments with views across the grounds of the hospital opposite, or face the fate of many grand old buildings which are left neglected, fall victim to vandalism and finally are demolished.
And having passed it a few times when we were down visiting our Polly and Joshua, I decided to go digging for its past.
Here Mr. Frears lived with his wife, Minnie, their five children and one servant, who described herself as the cook.
He was a director of the Frears Bread Company who were located at 11 Frog Lane in 1916.
Alas that building has gone, but I can track him back to a more modest property on Osborne Road, and follow his path on in to 1924 when he applied to be admitted to Freedom of the City of London, in the Company of the Framework Knitters and to his death in 1937 when he was still at Hillsborough, and left £26,107.
His father ran a grocer’s business on Northgate Street in 1870 and progressed to running the bakery on Frog Lane by 1881, at which point the young John was an art student.
There will be more about the Frears family and a trawl of the directories for the period after 1936 should fix the moment that Hillsborough became a residential home.
“There's an old piano
And they play it hot behind the green door
Don't know what they're doing
But they laugh a lot behind the green door
Wish they'd let me in so I could find out”,
Location; Leicester
Pictures; Hillsborough, Westcoates Drive, Leicester, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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