Now I have always been intrigued by Queens Court, on Palatine Road, which looks out of place amongst the grand old Victorian and Edwardian houses, and the more modern blocks of flats, which stretch down from Lapwing Lane and on towards Wilmlsow Road.
They have a stylish presence, with their arched exterior staircases which marks them off as different and very bold when they were built sometime in the 1930s.
I say 1930s, because I have always thought they reflected that period.
And now I know that they were at least there by 1939, and possibly earlier.
They are on the site of St Mary’s Church which ran along Queens Court Road and Palatine Road.
The church closed in 1929, and I suspect sometime in the next decade our flats went up.
The search for a date for the flats was one of those little detective exercises which involved trawling past copies of the Manchester Guardian looking for any reference to the buildings.*
In 1945 in the local magistrates courts a resident of one of the flats who was described as a married woman in an “extremely good financial position” was cleared of an accusation of theft, while in 1940, an “Aircraft Examiner” was “Charged under two charges of the Official Secrets Act [in a case] heard in camera”.
“He was also charged with aiding and abetting a German Refugee from Nazi oppression to commit an offence under the Aliens Order.”
And a year earlier the newspaper carried an advert "Queens’ Court, Palatine Road, West Didsbury 2 only Entirely Self Contained 4 roomed Maisonettes”
Now I have Barbarella to thank for the pictures, because she tailored her essential walk of the day to include Queens Court following a request by me.
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; Walking Palatine Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
*Manchester Guardian, July 15th 1939, Jul 6th 1940, March 28, 1945
I say 1930s, because I have always thought they reflected that period.
And now I know that they were at least there by 1939, and possibly earlier.
They are on the site of St Mary’s Church which ran along Queens Court Road and Palatine Road.
The church closed in 1929, and I suspect sometime in the next decade our flats went up.
In 1945 in the local magistrates courts a resident of one of the flats who was described as a married woman in an “extremely good financial position” was cleared of an accusation of theft, while in 1940, an “Aircraft Examiner” was “Charged under two charges of the Official Secrets Act [in a case] heard in camera”.
“He was also charged with aiding and abetting a German Refugee from Nazi oppression to commit an offence under the Aliens Order.”
Now I have Barbarella to thank for the pictures, because she tailored her essential walk of the day to include Queens Court following a request by me.
Location; Didsbury
Pictures; Walking Palatine Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
*Manchester Guardian, July 15th 1939, Jul 6th 1940, March 28, 1945
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