Wellfield .... in Whalley Range ...... rises again …………

 No. 59 Upper Chorlton Road has had one of those “interesting stories” which is only to be expected for a house which is 161 years old.

Work in progress, 2022

It first appears in the records in 1861 as the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood, their four children and four servants.

The property commanded a rateable value of £160 which marked it out as one of the more expensive properties along the road with views across fields towards the gardens of Hullard Hall.  

It was set in an extensive garden with two greenhouses and fronted the still private Upper Chorlton Road which had been cut by Samuel Brooks in the 1830s for his new Whalley Range development.

The site of Wellfield marked in red, 1854

From the beginning it carried the name of Wellfield, and throughout the rest of the 19th century was home to merchants and manufacturers.  

Of these the McQuade family, bought the house in 1871 and stayed there until 1899 were the longest residents.

But by then the surrounding area was being developed, and the fine views towards Hullard Hall were obscured by row of semidetached properties, which included The Whalley Range Orphanage, while some of the grand houses close to Wellfield had vanished to be replaced by more modest homes. 

And by the turn of the century the Hichelwood’s former home had also undergone a transformation, and was being used as a laundry, with only part of the house occupied by a family who worked in the business.

Wellfield surrounded, 1894

Just when the laundry ceased is as yet unclear but the OS maps for 1933 and 1951 record the property as Wellfield Linen Works, which doesn’t preclude it still being be a laundry.

But in 1954 it is listed as the Paramount Wallpapers Ltd warehouse and in 1962 59 Upper Chorlton Road operated as “Linda Gay Dresses Ltd. Gown manufacturers” and 59a as "Needham F. (Shopfitters) Ltd". 

The last directory entry is for 1969 when the property was listed as “W.P.M ltd. Wallpaper mfs”.

That said in the 2000s it was a carpet warehouse, and I can attest to buying two cheapy carpets from them.

As for the house, by 1939 it was divided into three flats, and continued as such into 1962, and later still seems to have been further subdivided into 10.

It is a common enough story, which saw a once grand house converted to fit the changing needs of the 20th century when its size and decline in the use of domestic servants made it less attractive as a home for one family.

Work begins, 2022

What perhaps adds a twist is its partial conversion in to industrial and retail use.

And that may have just saved it from being demolished in favour of a block of pedestrian flats which maximise the footprint to squeeze as many flats as possible onto the exiting plot of land.

That could still have been the fate of Wellfield, but instead it was acquired Armistead Property who specialise in transforming old residential properties into modern apartments while retaining as much of the original character as possible.*

The original floor tiles, 2022

Their work has featured on the blog over the years, including the award-winning Denbigh Villas development on High Lane and the equally impressive Carlton Terrace, at 199 and 201 Upper Chorlton Road.**

Transforming the upstairs, 2022

In the case of Wellfield the plan is to create 17 apartments using the existing house and an extension and creating roof top gardens.

Features like the large south facing window, and the floor tiles in the hall will be retained and any internal features which survived the brutal years of “laundry and multi occupancy”.

But modern planning regulations may preclude the retention of the barrel roof in the cellar.

That said the architect Simon Jones and the contractors have been alert to the possibilities of saving more of the original house as possible.

Added to these the original brickwork is in the process of being cleaned to brig it back to what it would have looked like when Mr. and Mrs. Hinchelwood walked in on for the very first time.

It will always remain an area of debate as to how far an old property should be saved and what the price of saving it will be.  

There are countless examples of where the conversion has been done badly and fails to honour the original building but done properly and it seems to me, we are on a winner.

After the laundry and warehouse were demolished, 2022

So, the survival of Denbigh Villas which was home to a famous industrialist and historian as well as a school does much to save a bit of our history, while the alternative is to see such historic buildings left neglected in an increasingly parlous state till safety demands their demolition.

Location; Whalley Range

Pictures; Wellfield, 2022, from the collections of Andrew Simpson and Armistead Property and the site in 1854 and 1894, from the 1854 OS map of Lancashire and the 1894 OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Armistead Property, http://www.armisteadproperty.co.uk/

**Denbigh Villas, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=denbigh+Villas&max-results=20&by-date=true & Carlton Terrace, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%20200%2F198%20Upper%20Chorlton%20Road