The door …. and the story

This is the entrance to Whitworth House at 121 Princess Street, and the inscription above the door offers up one of those fascinating twisty turney stories.

Morreau, Spiegelberg and Co, 2023

Morreau, Spiegelberg and Co were listed in 1903 as “manufacturers, shipping and merchants”. 

My Pevsner says of the building “on the east side, of [Princess Street] the former premise of Morreau, and Spiegelberg, C Legg, 1912. Arcaded below with slightly projecting bays, above topped with a range of big shaped gables”.*

As a description it isn’t much but it’s a start for what is a large property occupying a site bounded by Bombay Street, Princess Street, Granby Row and Samuel Ogden Street.

And it’s size is totally in keeping with what seems to have been the business of Morreau, and Spiegelberg which can be tracked back to at least 1896 when they were on Portland Street, and on to 1916 when they were still at Whitworth House.

Marcus Morreau had dissolved a business partnership in 1897 and another in 1911 by which time he was already in partnership with George Spiegelberg.

Now I am never really a fan of delving into the lives of the wealthy, given that their wealth and prestige has ensured a trail of information from business documents to newspaper references.

But in this case because I had the names it seemed churlish not to explore their lives, and I started with Mr. Mooreau.

He was born in Wörrstadt in Germany in 1859 and was living in Whalley Range as a lodger in 1881.

121 Princess Street, 2023

As yet I can’t be sure when he first moved to Britain, but he was naturalized as a “British Subject” in 1892, made several trips to New York in the 1890s and was married in Calais in 1900.  Alice his wife was French was just 18 when she married Marcus.

In the early years of their marriage they moved around south Manchester but by 1911 they were on Lapwing Lane.  

The house is still there and is a grand looking place. 

It had 16 rooms and the Mooreau’s employed five servants two of whom were described as nurses, along with their German cook, a “waitress” and a “housemaid”.  Intriguingly both the last two were born in Manchester but described themselves as a “British Subject by parentage”.

And as befitting someone of wealth there are pictures of Mr. and Mrs Morreau and two of their three children as well as one of Alice and a sibling in 1890.

These are available from a family blog and are one of those remarkable finds and come with a picture of George Spiegelberg.**

Highfield, Didsbury, 1894

It was a find that came at the end of a long day of trawling the records and writing the story which I suppose is one of those lessons that you should always finish the research first.

But then the Brotmanblog blog is someone else’s story compiled with their research so it is fitting that those who want to pursue the family should follow the link and read their account.

And if you feel adventurous take yourself down to 121 Princess Street and gaze on the former warehouse and offices of Moreau, and Spiegelberg.

Alternatively you could head south to Didsbury and the site of Highfield House which was where Mr. and Mrs. Morreau were living in 1920 when Marcus died.  

Alice was still there a year later where she shared her home with two of her children, a governess and three servants and a Mr. Spiegelberg who was visiting from nearby Bowden.

The OS map for 1894 shows Highfield as a large 14 roomed house set in extensive grounds with a lodge off Ford Lane.

And that for now it it.

Location; Manchester, and Didsbury

Pictures;, 121 Princess Street, 2023 from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Highfield in Didsbury from the OS map of South Lancashire, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/

* Manchester, Clare Hartwell2002, Pevsner Architectural Guides p198

** Brotmanblog: A Family Journey,  https://brotmanblog.com/2019/09/03/a-brickwall-when-and-where-did-alice-weinmann-marry-marcus-morreau/