Now I doubt few people have ever seen number 22 Edge Lane as it would have looked back in 1865 during its construction.*
I suppose its owner, a Mr. John Muffet Haselgrove, might have just popped in, along with the architect, and perhaps a curious trespasser might have chanced their arm and climbed in.
But leaving these aside, it will have been the workmen, who labourered on the property, completing each of the stages, until the house was ready to become a home.
And now, after 154 years Mr. Haselgrove’s house has reverted to bare brick, devoid of virtually every feature we would call home comforts.
In the process, all the subsequent additions, and alterations are there to see, including wood and concrete lintels used to create new openings, windows that were never part of the original plan, and partition walls added to create new living spaces.
Nor is this everything, because deep down in what were the cellars are some very odd things, including openings that seem to lead nowhere, and lots of Victorian earth back filled into some of the rooms.
All of this meant that I felt quite privileged to be invited in to see, number 22 in its raw state.
A few bits of the past have survived including the elegant staircase and the solid front door, but of the fireplaces, the plaster cornices, and picture rails, nothing remains. Most of them will have vanished long ago, being judged “unmodern” by owners who wanted to embrace the simplicity of 20th century design.
Or were sacrificed when this once proud family home was divided up into flats.
But that does mean that the place is a blank canvas, for Armistead Property Ltd, who are beginning to redevelop the property, creating two bedroomed apartments in this mid nineteenth building.
The historian in me always welcomes the sympathetic redevelopment of a property, which in its long history has been much knocked about and is in danger of being demolished for a pedestrian block of flats, or worse still lingers on, with its glory days far in the past.
Not so 22 Edge Lane, which along with the redevelopment of its interior will be restored to what it might have looked like back in 1865.
This will include cleaning the brickwork, picking out other exterior features and creating landscaped open spaces in keeping with the building.
And I am pleased that the development will retain its original name of The Oaks, which was bestowed upon it by Mr. Haselgrove shortly after he moved in, and echoes the name of an earlier house he lived in.
So, in the fullness of time The Oaks, will again stand proud on Edge Lane, and be a focus for the stories of its long history, which includes the Haselgrove family and a long line of other Chorlton residents.
Some of these I have already written about including Julia Shevloff, whose father and mother arrived in Britain in 1874, from the Russian part of Poland and settled in Whitechapel.
Her husband was also from Imperial Russia, and was naturalized in 1909 having married Julia nine years earlier.
In 1901 they had set up home in Sheffield and moved into The Oaks sometime in the early 1920s, and here they stayed.
Both are buried in Southern Cemetery and there are some people who remember shopping in Mr. Shevloff's premises in the heart of Manchester.
Location; Chorlton;
Pictures; the original interior, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*At 22 Edge Lane, **https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%2022%20Edge%20Lane
**Armistead Property Ltd, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/
But leaving these aside, it will have been the workmen, who labourered on the property, completing each of the stages, until the house was ready to become a home.
And now, after 154 years Mr. Haselgrove’s house has reverted to bare brick, devoid of virtually every feature we would call home comforts.
In the process, all the subsequent additions, and alterations are there to see, including wood and concrete lintels used to create new openings, windows that were never part of the original plan, and partition walls added to create new living spaces.
Nor is this everything, because deep down in what were the cellars are some very odd things, including openings that seem to lead nowhere, and lots of Victorian earth back filled into some of the rooms.
A few bits of the past have survived including the elegant staircase and the solid front door, but of the fireplaces, the plaster cornices, and picture rails, nothing remains. Most of them will have vanished long ago, being judged “unmodern” by owners who wanted to embrace the simplicity of 20th century design.
Or were sacrificed when this once proud family home was divided up into flats.
But that does mean that the place is a blank canvas, for Armistead Property Ltd, who are beginning to redevelop the property, creating two bedroomed apartments in this mid nineteenth building.
Not so 22 Edge Lane, which along with the redevelopment of its interior will be restored to what it might have looked like back in 1865.
This will include cleaning the brickwork, picking out other exterior features and creating landscaped open spaces in keeping with the building.
And I am pleased that the development will retain its original name of The Oaks, which was bestowed upon it by Mr. Haselgrove shortly after he moved in, and echoes the name of an earlier house he lived in.
Some of these I have already written about including Julia Shevloff, whose father and mother arrived in Britain in 1874, from the Russian part of Poland and settled in Whitechapel.
Her husband was also from Imperial Russia, and was naturalized in 1909 having married Julia nine years earlier.
In 1901 they had set up home in Sheffield and moved into The Oaks sometime in the early 1920s, and here they stayed.
Both are buried in Southern Cemetery and there are some people who remember shopping in Mr. Shevloff's premises in the heart of Manchester.
Location; Chorlton;
*At 22 Edge Lane, **https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%2022%20Edge%20Lane
**Armistead Property Ltd, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/
It looks like a fascinating building. It's great that it's going to be restored sympathetically & I'd love to see what it looks like once it's done. The staircase in particular is lovely.
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