Guided tours of Nottingham
While I’m staying at home (and not in Nottingham city centre), my brother Jim, who does live in the city, offered to take his camera on a walk to have a look at one of the buldings that I feature on my Watson Fothergill Walk walking tour.
So here are the results – a look at one of my favourite Fothergill buildings that serves as a taster for the tour.
We might do some more while conditions are like this – stay tuned and subscribe to my new Watson Fothergill Walk YouTube channel for more.
While I’m unable to take walks to look at buildings, I thought I would talk to some of the people who I’ve connected with through a mutual interest in Fothergill and the buildings of Nottingham.
In this installment I talk to Jo Ackroyd, a Pre Construction professional at Willmott Dixon Construction. I helped Jo with some research on a Watson Fothergill building for a project on Conservation and Heritage. Jo and his colleagues gave me some great professional insight into Fothergill’s techniques and use of materials when I took them on a tour of Nottingham.
Lucy Brouwer: Can you briefly tell me about your professional interest in architecture and building conservation?
Jo Ackroyd: There are fewer and fewer people who have an understanding of the skills and trades of yesteryear. As these skills are lost, the industry is replacing them with poorly judged and ill placed modern materials. I see these incompatible materials and cheap attempts to repair historic fabric and find myself wondering why and how are these seen as acceptable? To learn about these old buildings means to study both the architecture and the skills required to construct them.
As with Alice, the more you learn, the more the rabbit hole opens and you find yourself sucked into a fascinating and detailed world. Moreover, the people involved are usually, ‘individuals’!
It is also an aspiration that following a specialism such as this will enable me to move away from modern construction.
LB: You did a project on Watson Fothergill’s Express building – what drew you to that building in particular?
JA: It is one of Fothergill’s significant buildings. Significant by its size, position in the city, use of materials and its history of adaptions.
I needed a building with a rich history and many of his other works are relatively small by comparison.
As I discovered more about the building, I found errors in texts, stories of the building’s development and use, the influence of technological change and how the building reflected societal development. Essentially the buildings of the age performed many functions and assisted the growth of individual businesses and the development of the city as a whole. The investors were very canny about spreading the assets uses to decrease risk.
I also found an otherwise unmentioned Newlyn Datum. An important mark which hitherto had not been mentioned in the texts and reflected the status of the building and the importance of its position.
LB: Do you have a favourite building in Nottingham? Which one and why?
JA: I do like the old Fothergill former NatWest Bank. It’s a deviation from his usual style and materials and the way it was extended is astounding.
There’s also a form of Ghost Sign on the front façade, as the old NatWest sign was removed its left an urban mark behind, which I intend to discuss in my next paper.
By comparison, I also like the Halifax Bank in Long Eaton, it’s a stand alone Fothergill of some status.
It uses all his usual hallmark materials and designs and is set in quite a unique way to augment its proportions.
LB: From a builder’s point of view, what’s special about Fothergill’s architecture and the way he uses materials?
JA: I don’t believe his approach was unique. I do think the way he reused his elements was straight from a pattern book.
This in itself isn’t new, Robert Adam had the same approach, but Fothergill mixed the colours and textures very well to create a unique aesthetic.
He obviously used the same materials, skill and trades, the same individuals on each of his projects.
I suspect that’s how he died a millionaire! I assume his supply chain was very tight and he benefited greatly from this.
Not least because he acted as architect, project manager and quantity surveyor.
These elements now stand out in Nottingham as many other forms of architecture lack the polychromatic tracery, the ornate and intricate carvings and the shear willingness to build a spire which has absolutely no use whatsoever!
Many thanks to Jo for taking the time to answer my questions. And thanks again for all the insights into building – I incorporate a lot of them into my tours! If you’d like to join me for a walk when we are able to get out again, then you can purchase a gift voucher to redeem against future events.
In these strange times while I’m not able to take walks out to look at buildings, I thought I would ask some of the people whom I’ve connected with through mutual interest in Fothergill and the buildings of Nottingham to answer a few questions to see what I could learn about their perspective.
First up illustrator Nick Coupland. I stumbled upon Nick’s drawings on Twitter and recently purchased a print of his drawing of Watson Fothergill’s office on George Street, Nottingham. It’s on the wall in front of my desk, reminding me of what’s out there waiting when I can get back to the tours…
Nick is based near Hull, but his illustrations range from Modern Architecture icons to football stadiums, recently he has started drawing music venues. I asked him a few questions via email and learned a little about what makes him tick:
Lucy Brouwer: You draw a lot of modern architecture, very different from Fothergill’s Gothic – what made you want to draw his Nottingham office building?
Nick Coupland: I was initially asked to draw the Fothergill building as a commission. I’d noticed the architect’s work on a few visits to Nottingham so it was nice to get stuck into it, as it really is a unique building. It doesn’t visually follow any set formula so you really have to draw it as you see it- there’s no cheating with this one.
I normally draw a lot of post war architecture as I have a bit of a personal interest in it, but really I’ll turn my pen to any style. I’ve drawn anything from people’s first terraced houses to palaces and grand railway terminus.
The thing that made the Fothergill building so nice to draw is its changes in texture, form and shade- when you draw in pen and ink theses are the features that really make a building jump from the page.
LB: I really like your architectural map of Beverley – would you consider drawing more Nottingham buildings to make something similar?
NC: I originally did a cluster drawing of Hull and it worked quite nicely so I wanted to do something popular for the local market town of Beverley. I had a nice customer base there so I thought it would make sense to draw the architecture of the town.
For someone who enjoys post-war architecture, Beverley was fairly limited in that sense however it has a lovely range of contrasting styles.
Nottingham would be ideal due to it having a good mix, both Modern and Classical. I’ve previously drawn the old Boots building and am currently working on Rock City for a new project.
LB: I see from your social media that you’ve been drawing some favourite music venues lately; can you tell me a bit about these? (Love the Barras one! My first tour guiding gig was at The Barrowlands, Glasgow’s premier live venue)
NC: I’m a big music fan and really enjoy live music- especially at independent venues. It’s long been an ambition to combine the two interests in a project. I’ve been working on a series of drawings charting the nation’s iconic venues up and down the country including those no longer around. The lockdown has meant a really tough time for music venues and the future looks uncertain for many of them so I’m exploring ways of possibly making the project beneficial in some way.
One thing I have noticed is how unique these venues are – I’ve loved drawing Glasgow Barrowland with its iconic illuminated sign, then I’ve also loved drawing Hull’s Adelphi, which is basically an end terrace. What’s noticeable though is how much these venues are adored by the public and how close they hold them to their hearts.
Concerts always seem to create good memories.
LB: Are there any buildings you’d like to draw that you’ve not had the chance to do yet? Do you need to visit them to draw them?
NC: There’s so many beautiful buildings out there calling to be drawn, but the problem like so much of life is finding the time. I always have a few projects on the go at once and my style of drawing takes quite a long time to complete. I try to get to the building for sketches and photographs (and also just to get a feel for the place). However with so much architecture being demolished and many frontages being renovated- I often have to do a bit of detective work with old photos.
A good example this was drawing Portsmouth’s now demolished Tricorn Centre. It took me a couple of weeks of looking at old photos and making sketches- my studio wall looked like a Hollywood detective’s with pictures and notes stuck everywhere. I’ve always had a bit of an ambition to draw a long landscape of Habitat 67 in Montreal, I’ve made sketches so hopefully I’ll get round to finishing it. Barrowland and New York’s CBGB’s were on my to-do list for ages.
Sometimes it’s nice to take a little break from buildings though this does tend to be more personal rather than commercial. I recently got into a weird habit of drawing guitar foot pedals – I love the typography on them as well as their strange names.
Huge thanks to Nick for taking the time to talk to me, you can see more and buy his work at Nick Coupland Illustration or follow him on Twitter or Instagram.
The earliest house that architect Watson Fothergill (born Fothergill Watson, 1841) is known to have built is the dwelling he designed for himself and his family, which stood at 7 Mapperley Road, Nottingham.
Fothergill noted in his diary in 1870: “This Autumn after searching all over town for a site we liked I bought a piece of land on the northern side of Mapperley Road in Mr Patchitt’s estate.” Edwin Patchitt (1807-1888) was a solicitor and also a member of the Notts County Cricket team; he was Mayor of Nottingham for two terms between 1858 and 1860 and was the Secretary to the Enclosure Commissioners. He owned a triangle of land between Woodborough Road, Mansfield Road, Redcliffe Road and Elm Bank. Costing Fothergill £375, the land comprised 1,250 sq. yds and had a frontage of 105ft to Mapperley Road.
The first brick was laid on 3rd March 1871, and the Fothergill Family, which at this time comprised Fothergill, his wife Anne and their daughters Marion, Annie Forbes, and Edith Mary, moved from the house they had been renting on Hampden Street on 26th March 1872, “though the workmen were not yet out of it.”
No drawings are known to survive of the original plan for the house, and there are few photos. I asked Nottingham-based architect and historic building consultant Peter Rogan to help me imagine what the house would have been like…
The house reflected High Victorian style with its asymmetry, individualism and accentuated features: brick with terracotta and stone details, prominent tall chimneys, and a four storey tower with decorative brickwork and a steep pitch roof. The house had an eclectic mix of window types: some sashes with stone lintels, bays and some with tracery. An entrance porch on the south-western side had slender decorative columns, above it an archway with a stone tympanum pieced by a window in the form of an eight-pointed star. On the side facing the road: trefoil decorations, circular windows and possibly a date stone. The gables made for broken rooflines creating a picturesque effect, capturing the light and shade that Fothergill found so alluring about the Gothic style.
In June 1872, Fothergill’s fourth child, Eleanor, was born: his three subsequent children, Samuel Fothergill 1874, Harold Hage 1877 and Clarice 1879, were also born here.
“The snuggest of houses! That is what we aimed at. Comfort, not great cold rooms, but gems of art sparkling round, an inviting home.”
Fothergill Family Record 1892.
Fothergill described the various features of the interior – sculptures, stag’s heads, green wallpaper in the style of Pugin, velvet curtains and tablecloths, and “modern” paintings on the walls. A brown wooden ceiling with gold details and floral decorations inscribed with a motto: “He that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” (1 Corinthians 9:25) A portrait of Dr John Fothergill, his Quaker ancestor looked down on them from over the archway, and this was just the hall…
The rooms were adorned with brown silk and blue velvet, green walls and carpet, carved woodwork and decorated ceilings, but “everything is but a ground on which to display the pictures and the china” Among Fothergill’s collection of art works: a water colour interior of Salisbury Cathedral by JMW Turner and a St Cecilia by George Romney. (Links are guesses at the possible pictures, Fothergill is mentioned in catalogues of various exhibitions as he lent out the paintings, but I’ve got more research to do here!)
Around 1899 Fothergill added electric light and more bay windows to the house to provide light for displaying his collections of porcelain and Venetian glass.
“Indeed there is no doubt that the mediaeval style, call it old English if you will, in which both house and furniture are designed, does particularly lend itself to a home-like effect. It lacks but age, with a few ancestral traditions attached to it, to render it dear to us – no it cannot be more dear.”
Fothergill Family Record 1892.
In 1901, Fothergill purchased the adjacent land extending down to Chestnut Grove, from the lace merchant Thomas Birkin, it cost just over £1000. This became an ornamental garden and a tennis court.
When Fothergill died aged 87 in 1928, the house was sold and his art collection and the furniture was put up for auction, presumably so proceeds could be split between his five daughters, both his sons having failed to outlive him.
In the 1940s and 1950s, it appears that Councillor (later Lord Mayor) John Edwin Mitchell, lived at no. 7, then known as Park House (but I’m not 100% sure, as the numbering of the street has been altered).
Eventually the house was turned into flats, but it was demolished in 1968 – the value of the land too tempting to prevent developers from building many more dwellings on the site.
The present houses on the site were developed in the 1970s. They’re considerably less spectacular, but the development is at least called Fothergill Court!
The site of Fothergill’s house and more of his buildings in Mapperley Park, Sherwood Rise and Carrington will feature in my new walk, The Carrington Crawl. Dates will be announced as soon as the global situation allows… Meanwhile you can buy gift vouchers for yourself or friends and redeem them against future Watson Fothergill Walks with tour guide Lucy Brouwer.
A Message from Lucy Brouwer: Following official government advice, which recommended that people should avoid social gatherings to help slow the spread of coronavirus, I have taken the decision to cancel ALL forthcoming events. If you have booked, you will receive a refund in due course.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Meanwhile, I will be back with more walks later in the year and will issue updates here on my website, facebook page and mailing list (if you haven’t already signed up, please click through and add your email address).
I am also making gift vouchers available, so you can buy tickets for a future walk in advance – and we can all have something to look forward to!
Wishing you well in these difficult times, I hope to see you on the other side,
take care,
Lucy
For a while now I’ve been working on a walk to look at some of Watson Fothergill’s domestic archtecture, and I’m happy to say that The Ukrainian Cultural Centre at Clawson Lodge have invited me to bring the new tour to their building on Mansfield Road, Nottingham.
Presenting The Carrington Crawl: a look at houses by Fothergill and his chief assistant Lawrence G. Summers in Mapperley Park, Sherwood Rise and Carrington, finishing with a chance to visit Clawson Lodge, where tea and coffee will be served.
The first of these new walks will take place on 4 April 2020, starting at 1pm.
DETAILS:
A NEW WALK FOR 2020 from the producer of the Watson Fothergill Walk and the Hine Hike.
The Carrington Crawl: Victorian Nottingham’s most flamboyant architect not only helped shape the city centre with commercial landmarks, he also designed dwellings. Explore some of the domestic architecture of Watson Fothergill and his assistant Lawrence G. Summers with tour guide Lucy Brouwer. Discover more about the buildings, those who built them, and the lives of the people who lived in them.
This walk will begin at the junction of Mansfield Road and Mapperley Road, outside St Andrew’s Church, it will then look at some of Fothergill’s houses in Mapperley Park, including the site of his own family home, continuing to Sherwood Rise, then return to Carrington to finish, after a walk of approximately 2 hours / 3km, at Clawson Lodge on Mansfield Road, where tea and coffee will be available.
Participants are asked to come prepared for appropriate weather eventualities and to wear footwear suitable for city walking.
Meet for 1pm start on Mapperley Road near the junction with Mansfield Road, outside St Andrew’s Church, Nottingham.
Advanced booking is essential as places are limited.
Last week I was invited by The Story of Nottingham, the Nottingham Heritage Partnership, to pick up a Heritage Champion 2020 medal at The Urban Room!
After some community workshops and an online survey, about a dozen of us were picked to be #HeritageChampions2020. As you can see the other medallists were a diverse bunch, including among others a Chinese Heritage Vlogger, an historian of Black coal miners, an urban greening activist, Nottingham’s premier cultural newspaper Left Lion, a skateboarding collective and even the 21st century Robin Hood!
A big thank you to everyone involved! It was a real surprise to be recognised in this way and to meet some of the other people who all work so hard to celebrate and share the heritage of Nottingham.
EXTRA: A blog from Marketing NG.
My next walks are on 29 March 2020 and I hope to continue throughout the Spring and Summer. Sign up to the mailing list for the latest news!
Some great photos of Lucy in action during a wet but enjoyable Watson Fothergill Walk on 16 February. It was great to see people so keen to join in the first public tour of the year! Photos by theparkestate on Instagram (follow them for some great photos of houses by Fothergill, Hine and other Nottingham architectes in Nottingham’s Park Estate).
I’ve got more walks coming up in March and April. So far the dates are 29 March 10am and 29 March 1pm and I’ve now added 26 April 10am and 26 April 1pm.
If you wish you can also buy tickets with cash or card at Debbie Bryan on St Mary’s Gate, Nottingham.
Sign up for the mailing list to get news of all future walks and events by clicking HERE and adding your name and email address.
I’ve now added an afternoon walk to 29th March 2020, which starts at 1pm. Tickets are £12 and included coffee or tea and a cake at Debbie Bryan.
As previously mentioned, I’ve listed the walks on TripAdvisor, had some lovely reviews so far. If you’ve been on my walk (and enjoyed it!) please leave a review.
Links to all the tickets for forthcoming walks are here on Eventbrite.
I have set up a TripAdvisor page for the Watson Fothergill Walk. It would be great to reach a wider audience and introduce them to this most interesting of Nottingham architects! If you’ve enjoyed the walk, please leave a review – it would be a great help. You can also post photos if you have some.
I look forward to seeing some of you again on future walks… I have plans for more Hine Hikes and a Carrington Crawl to look at some of Fothergill’s domestic architecture… coming soon!