The return of Deco in the Details and another chance to do The Carrington Crawl
Dates coming up in May & June 2025
There is still some availability for Watson Fothergill Walk on 25 May, 10 am. (It starts early so we can enjoy Nottingham while it is slightly quieter than later on in the day – it’s worth getting up for!)
Deco in the Details
I’m trying out an evening version of Deco in the Details parts 1 & 2 – these tours look for traces of Art Deco in Nottingham’s architecture of the 1920s and 1930s.
This is a circular walk from Nottingham’s Council House down to the Broadmarsh area and back. You can do these tours in any order – I hope to stage them again later in the year.
This second part of the walk starts outside Victoria Centre and finishes at Snienton Market (where there is an opportunity to call at The Bath Inn).
The Bath Inn (AKA The Hanging Gardens of Snienton Market) from the winter Deco in the Details Part 2. Photo: with thanks to Louise Hunter.
The Carrington Crawl
Lawrence George Summers, Fothergill’s talented chief assistant architect, was recently commemorated with a new grave marker in the Church Cemetery.
The young LG Summers and the new grave marker, commissioned by Andrew Paris. Church Cemetery Photo: Lucy Brouwer
On the Carrington Crawl, I tell Summers’ story, talk about Fothergill’s family home and search for the houses they designed in Mapperley Park, Sherwood Rise and Carrington.
This walk starts at the junction of Mansfield Road and Mapperley Road and ends at the Carrington end of Mansfield Road with a chance to explore Clawson Lodge (now the AUGB Ukrainian Cultural Centre) where you can enjoy a hot drink (for a small donation).
Father’s Day tour
And finally, for this newsletter, a Watson Fothergill Walk for Father’s Day.
There will be a Watson Fothergill Walk finishing up at Fothergill’s gastropub where you can enjoy the special Father’s Day menu. Book in early if you’d like a table after the tour. I’ll endeavour to finish on time but book for 12.15 pm to be on the safe side! A pleasant 2-hour stroll will build up your appetite.
Over on Instagram you might have seen an account called Inside Elm Bank, here the new owners of a Victorian villa in Mapperley Park are documenting their efforts to restore it to something of its original character. The house has some distinctive features that might be familiar to Fothergill-spotters. However, in this case, the alterations to the front of the house, the addition of a breakfast room, kitchen and scullery with bedroom over, were carried out by Watson Fothergill’s chief assistant, Lawrence George Summers.
Evidence of this work was identified by Darren Turner in his Fothergill; A Catalogue of the Works of Watson Fothergill, Architect, in the section on work signed off by L.G. Summers. The house at 9 Elm Bank, which for many years was known as Elm Bank Lodge, was already in existence before it was altered in 1893.
I’ve had a look at the evidence to see if I could find more information on who built the house, who lived there and who commissioned the alterations.
Thanks to the new owners for a few new clues… here’s my attempt at A House Through Time…
9 Elm Bank (centre) when it was on the Market in 2021 (archived photos from Estate Agent listing).
1875. The land that the house was built on was part of land owned and sold by Edwin Patchitt (1808-1888). Patchitt was a solicitor, clerk and land owner (and Mayor of Nottingham in 1852) who was responsible for laying out the Church (Rock) Cemetery (in 1851). Patchitt’s land also included the plot sold to Fothergill Watson in 1870, where he built his own house at 7 Mapperley Road (now Fothergill Court). Patchitt lived at Forest House, which was adjacent (later owned by Thomas Birkin, it was donated to become the Children’s Hospital 1899-1978). Leonard Lindley (1835-95), mentioned in the conveyance deeds was also a JP (Justice of the Peace)like Patchitt, he lived on Mapperley Road (in 1885 at Redcliffe House). I have not been able to trace the William Ellis who was also mentioned in the documents.
1880. The land was again conveyed between William Ellis, James Bingham, Joseph James Acton & John Eley Bryan.
It appears the original house was built some time between this point and the 1881 census when Joseph James Acton and his family were listed as being in residence. Taken in April 1881, the census listed Joseph James Acton (1837-1887) Building Surveyor to the corporation of Nottingham, his wife Sarah E Acton, their baby daughter Ethel, along with a cook, housemaid and groom. (Acton was brother of Frederick Acton, solicitor who lived at Elm House.)
The rear of 9 Elm Bank does not show the typical markers of the Fothergill Style that Summers employed on the front. Photo archived from Estate Agent listing.
John Eley Bryan (1851-1918) was also listed as living on Elm Bank, but not in a census year and the number of the house is not mentioned, which leads me to believe that the original plot may have been split. There are now 3 houses quite close together on the site. John Eley Bryan was Accountant to the Corporation of Nottingham (aka The Boro Accountant). His wife Mary died in 1882 and shortly afterward there was an advertisement for the Freehold of his villa on Elm Bank but the number was not mentioned, it had three floors which makes me think it was the house next door.
Elm Bank circa 1899 https://maps.nls.uk
I have found conflicting information from newspapers and trade directories which point to other names who might have lived at 9 Elm Bank – in 1883 there was mention of Stephen Waine (1837-1889) of Barker and Waine Lace Dressers (but other evidence – in newspaper announcements – points to Mr Waine living around the corner at Claremont on Redcliffe Road.) Another name mentioned by trade directories in 1885 was William Henry Butler. The only evidence I can find for him was a report of a boot and shoe maker of that name being sued by the Nottingham Patent Brick Company to recover the deposit they had payed to him for the sale of a villa and grounds at Mapperley. As the NPBC could not use the land as a brickfield they wished to cancel the sale. I don’t believe this refers to Elm Bank, but no address is mentioned.
The next piece of solid evidence was a newspaper advertisement from 1887 “Good general servant who can cook nicely: two others kept; six in family; first-class character required. – Mrs Willatt, 9 Elm Bank Mapperley Road.” Mrs Willatt was Mary Jane (nee Attenborough) wife of John Willatt (1849-1901), Wine and Spirit Merchant of J Willatt & Co, 17 Chapel Bar. (He had recently taken over the firm from his father Issac Willatt). By 1891 and the census, the Willatts were living at Pelham Road.
The 1891 census offers the residents of 9 Elm Bank to have been the Holland family. William Holland (1835- 1907?) an accountant born in Lancashire, his wife Hannah and their children Arthur aged 18 working in a Lace Warehouse, Jessie aged 15, Edwin aged 12 and Elizabeth Newbitt a 16 year old servant. By 1901 William had become a school teacher and the Hollands were living at 17 Private Road, Mapperley Park.
In 1893 the plans were submitted for the alterations to the house. Lawrence George Summers, FRIBA signed as architect. Summers worked as Fothergill’s chief assistant. Of all the works signed as solely by LG Summers, the additions to this house are closest to the work of Fothergill in appearance. The builder was listed as R. Howitt and the client was Mr Thomas Jopling.
Thomas Jopling (1837-1897) was resident in the house 1895-1897. He was a Draper from Sunderland. A little searching turns up evidence that his firm was Jopling and Tuer, a well known Sunderland firm with a large shop. What was he doing in Nottingham? He writes to the Newcastle Journal in February 1895 to remark that the birds in Nottingham are showing signs of spring… “The rooks are now assembling on the trees, and we soon will see those sable gentlemen in full swing reconstructing their rookeries.”
From: Newcastle Chronicle, 9 March 1895, British Newspaper Archive.
Thomas Jopling died while residing at 9 Elm Bank in 1897. He left his widow Jane Jopling, eldest son Hugh, daughters Jennie, Emily, Kathleen, Marion, Eliza, Margery, and younger sons Tom & Mark. They -return to Sunderland after the death of Thomas. Hugh was already married and had moved to Leeds. In 1899 Emily married a farmer, Stanley Beardall and they lived at Stanford on Soar, Notts. with her mother Jane and her brother Tom. They later moved to Yorkshire.
From Northern Guardian, 13 March 1897, British Newspaper Archive.
From 1898, the house at 9 Elm Bank was occupied by Arthur Ernest Blake (1866-1935) and his family. Arthur E Blake (from 1920 Sir Arthur E Blake KBE) was a stockbroker and some-time estate agent. His place of business was briefly 2 Victoria Street (he was working from The Nottingham Club, or at least using it as an address) and then from 1897 he worked in Prudential Buildings (Alfred Waterhouse’s impressive building at the intersection of King and Queen Streets in the centre of Nottingham). He was a member of not only the Nottingham Club, but also the Borough and Constitutional Clubs. He had a long association with Nottingham Rowing Club and the Conservative Association.
In 1895 he had married his wife Florence Emily Blake (1870-1942), her father John Angrave Howitt(1829-1899) had been a Lace Manufacturer and was possibly later the publican of the Albert Hotel. Florence had at least 3 sisters and a brother. They were mentioned in newspaper reports of the sister’s marriages and wedding receptions held at Elm Bank in 1905 (Hilda Constance Howitt and Edgar Horne), 1908 (Maud Howitt and Henry White Thompson) and 1909 (Dorothy Howitt and Thomas Chambers Dawson). In all three of these reports the house was called “Thornhill”.
In 1911 the census records the residents of 9 Elm Bank to be Arthur Ernest Blake, Florence Emily Blake, their children Majorie, Olive Joan and Kenneth Arthur (their elder sons Geoffrey and Robert having already left home), the servants at this time were a cook and two house maids.
Sir Arthur was knighted in 1920 and was the Hon President of the Nottingham Savings Bank. His portrait is held in the Lloyds TSB archives and the National Portrait Gallery.
Sir Arthur Blake was High Sheriff of Nottingham in 1924 and by this time the family had moved out to West Leake manor (from 1915). The Blake’s eldest son, Geoffrey Stuart Blake (1896-1917) was killed in action in WW1. In 1925 their second son Robert Anthony Blake (1897-1928) married Annie Isobel Boobbyer – Annie Isobel was the daughter of Annie Forbes Watson Fothergill Boobbyer and Dr Phillip Boobbyer, Medical Officer of Health for Nottingham – making her Watson Fothergill’s granddaughter. Fothergill’s own house on Mapperley Road was a stone’s throw from Elm Bank. In 1928 Robert was killed in an aeroplane accident when flying with Nottingham Aero Club. They had one son, Philip Anthony Blake, born 1926. The wedding in 1925 had been quite an event – this photo captures some of the glamour.
Daily Mirror 7 August 1925, Marriage of Robert Anthony Blake and (Annie) Isobel Boobbyer (Watson Fothergill’s Granddaughter) in London. From British Newspaper Archive.
The Blake family were commemorated in the church at West Leake with stained glass and plaques. Lady Florence Blake went to live in the Park Estate at Fairholme, 13 Lenton Road after Sir Arthur’s death in 1935 while on a voyage to Durban South Africa. She died in 1942.
After the Blakes, 9 Elm Bank was home to James Allan Battersby (1871-1931) his wife Lois Allen Battersby and their 5 daughters – Edith Mary, Marguerite, Kathleen Ada, Joyce Allen and Helen Houghton Battersby. J. Allan Battersby OBE was a barrister who had been a famous Poor Law Officer in London, who came to Nottingham to work as Clerk to the Guardians of Bagthorpe Infirmary, he died suddenly in 1931 having become Superintendent Registrar of Births and Deaths for the City and Clerk to the Public Assessment Committee. The family had already moved out of Elm Bank to Magdala Road some time after 1927.
James Allan Battersby, from Nottingham Evening Post 9 July 1931, British Newspaper Archive.
In 1936 the house was briefly empty (there was a report of a burglary from the empty house of a sideboard top). Then in 1937 the next known residents were Bernard Savage (b.1888) and his wife Marian, nee Walton (b.1894). They married in Halifax, where they were from, in 1916. Bernard Savage had come to Nottingham to be manager of the new Halifax Building Society branch opened in June 1937 at Halifax House, Milton Street in Nottingham (the building is now home to 200 Degrees Coffee’s 3rd Nottingham Branch). Bernard was in Nottingham until at least 1947 as district manager of the Halifax.
Halifax House, Milton Street, Nottingham. Formerly Halifax Building Society 1937, (Remodelled by Cyril FW Hazeldine FRIBA) Photo: Lucy Brouwer
The next trade directory I was able to find was from 1950 and it appears that 9 Elm Bank had been turned into 3 flats with the residents listed as at number 9 Cyril E Langford, at 9A Arthur Gosling and at 9B Hugh S McAllister. Later, into the present decade, Elm Bank Lodge was run as a Bed and Breakfast when the owner was the late Mr Andrew Stewart.
9 Elm Bank 2021. Photo archived from Estate Agent’s listing. The brick nogging and decorative woodwork on the upper floor, along with the metal finial and canted oriel window to the side are redolent of the work carried out by the office of Watson Fothergill in the 1890s.
Not much of the original interior of the building has survived, but it’s possible that the copper fireplace in the Breakfast room could be part of LG Summers’ decorative scheme.
The Breakfast Room. Possibly some original period features remain? Photo: archived Estate Agent’s listing.
Follow the progress of the renovation of the house at Elm Bank on Instagram and you can find me at watsonfothergillwalk.
If you have any information on previous residents of Elm Bank or you would like me to research the history of your house, please send a message here.
The more I work on Fothergill, give talks and promote my guided walks, the more contact I receive from people who want to know if the building they have spotted is the work of Watson Fothergill, architect.
Recently, I’ve been sent several photos, either houses people have spotted while on urban walks or pictures they have seen posted on social media, each with the question: Is this a Fothergill?
But is it a Fothergill? Pics from l-r, Wilford Grove/ Wilford Crescent East by Chris Pyke-Hendry, Hardwick Road by Lucy Iliffe and Lenton Boulevard spotted on Facebook (originally from Picture Nottingham)
I always direct people to Darren Turner’s Fothergill: A Catalogue of The Works of Watson Fothergill, Architect, an extremely thorough piece of research that has been invaluable to me in putting together my tours. In the book, Darren has found evidence for every attribution he makes and the results are compelling. However, there remain a group of buildings he calls “The Awkward Squad”
Many of these dodgy attributions persist. This goes back to the over-enthusiastic obituarist in the Nottingham Journal who in 1928 laid claim to Fothergill’s distictive buildings being found in “almost every city and town between Nottingham and London.” (I’m not really sure that a bank in Loughborough, a cemetery chapel and a coffee house in Ongar and a solitary house in Sydenham really hold this to be true.)
Clip from The Nottingham Journal’s notice of Watson Fothergill’s death, 7 March 1928. Source: British Newspaper Archive.
There are also a lot of photographs that originate from Nottingham’s council archive, many now online at Picture Nottingham, that are labeled as being buildings by Watson Fothergill. A great many of them are genuine Fothergill’s and there are some wonderful photos available, but some of them are part of “The Awkward Squad” or have even proved to be designed by different architects entirely. Several of these photos from the 1960s are credited to Mr FC Tighe.
F.C. Tighe, City Librarian (standing), with composer Eric Coates (who himself also has a connection to Fothergill!) 1953, Nottingham Evening Post. (source: Picture Nottingham)
Francis Charles Tighe was the Nottingham City Librarian (from 1953 until his death, aged 48 in 1964). In the early 1960s, Mr Tighe entered into correspondence with Brigadier George Fothergill Ellenberger, Fothergill’s oldest grandson (WW1 veteran and son of Eleanor Watson Fothergill Ellenberger and Georg Hieronymous Ellenberger – see blogs passim). Mr Tighe was preparing a lecture on Fothergill and Ellenberger sent him several family records including Fothergill’s diary. The microfilm copy held by the University of Nottingham archives still has the numbered tabs that the Brigadier added to correspond to a list of buildings “with which he may have been concerned whether as architect or renovator”.
The Brigadier typed out a ‘generous’ list of his grandfather’s works – 39 buildings, all but one of which are demonstrably by Fothergill. The problem comes from another fifty-odd projects that were handwritten onto the list. Ellenberger was not claiming them all for Fothergill but many of them have become firmly associated with the architect.*
These include, among others, several house in The Park Estate (Edale, which proves to be by Thomas Chambers Hine; Brightlands – now Adam House which was actually built for Samuel Bourne by Arthur George Marshall; and several houses on Hope Drive and Peveril Drive).
After the success of his lecture on Fothergill, Mr Tighe became a passionate Fothergill-Spotter and began to see them almost everywhere. Many of the photographs on Picture Nottingham that include the generic Watson Fothergill biography seem to originate from this period (indeed many are credited to Mr Tighe or are from what looks like the same batch marked c. 1964). This combination of attributions, and the way the keyword search on the site works, would seem to be responsible for the proliferation of these images to various social media platforms.
Indeed, I have found buildings by Fothergill’s assistant, L.G. Summers in Duke Street and the corner of Cedar Road that are cited as Fothergill’s on Picture Nottingham and other buildings that bear more resemblance to Summers’ later work.
As for the ones I have been sent recently – I think that the Lenton Boulevard houses (pictured above) are likely by Brewill & Baily. (See the latest Pevsner Guide To The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire, p. 503) The Nottingham-based partnership of Arthur William Brewill (d.1923) and Basil Edgar Baily (1869-1942) were working in Nottingham during a similar period to Watson Fothergill, and there are bound to be some similarities in the material they used and their overall architectural influences. Other houses on Lenton Boulevard were photographed for Mr Tighe and to me, these feel like they are among some of his more wild guesses.
115 Lenton Boulevard, attributed to Fothergill but I’m very doubtful about this one. Photo: Google Street View. BUT IS IT A FOTHERGILL?
Number 115 Lenton Boulevard retains its attribution to Fothergill even in the latest Pevsner Guide. If anyone has any more information on any of these buildings, the pedant in me would like to straighten out the records!
Former Leenside Police Station, Canal Street. Photo: Lucy Brouwer NOT A FOTHERGILL!
Another Fothergill attribution that persists (due to how often photos of it are posted online) is the former Leenside Police Station on Canal Street. Despite red bricks and a turret, this is not listed in Darren Turner’s Catalogue at all. It was actually built by the City Engineer’s Department in 1901-2.
The Trent Bridge Inn. Photo: Wikimedia NOT A FOTHERGILL
The Trent Bridge Inn, another building whose shape might suggest some connection to Fothergill is in fact another ringer, having been built by William Bright (1888-90) with additions by Thomas Jenkins (1919). (Some info on The TBI and other Nottingham buildings that have become Wetherspoons pubs via Nottingham Civic Society.)
Building at corner of Wilford Crescent East. Photo: Chris Pyke-Hendry. Some features might point to L.G Summers but does anyone have any more clues? IS IT A FOTHERGILL???
The building near Meadows Library (above) photos of which were sent to me recently remains a mystery. To me it has some 1890s characteristics that might point in the direction of L.G. Summers, but as we have seen, a lot of building took place in the city around this time and there’s no evidence to substantiate who the architect might have been (not so far anyway).
Hardwick Road, photo: Lucy Iliffe
The actual Fothergill among the photos at the top of this blog (also above) is at the corner of Hardwick Road and Hartington Road, in Sherwood. Apparently some renovation is currently taking place. Built in 1890 as a villa on what was then called Cavendish Hill, for Mr Thomas Gallimore – who worked for Smith & Co Bank at the Long Eaton branch (itself designed by Fothergill). Gallimore also seems to have been a friend of L.G. Summers (Summers was present at Gallimore’s funeral in 1935). So even when we say something is a Fothergill, it shouldn’t discount the work of his chief assistant! You can see from the patterning of the bricks, the shape of the features like the windows and the chimney that this house resembles other known Fothergill’s more closely than any of Mr Tighe’s hopefuls that I’ve mentioned here.
I think what this really goes to show is that Nottingham is full of interesting buildings that are worth noticing and I hope it encourages you to go Fothergill-Spotting on urban walks! I’m still digging into the stories of the buildings that people have told me about and I’m always interested to hear from you if you live in a Watson Fothergill house or an interesting Victorian-era property that might be connected to the other architects of the period.
You can contact me HERE and sign up to the mailing list for the latest news on the return of the Watson Fothergill Walk in summer 2021.
*For more on this story, see the chapter “The Awkward Squad” in Fothergill: A Catalogue of the Works of Watson Fothergill, Architect by Darren Turner. Available from Five Leaves Books.
At the moment I am only able to take groups of up to 6 (including me!) so there are just 5 tickets for The Carrington Crawl on 15 August 2020.
NEWS FLASH! The first walk is already full! But I have added more dates (Aug 20, 11am & Aug 22, 2pm): Tickets for all forthcoming walks are available on Eventbrite.
If you have a group of 5 people or less and would like to arrange a time to do the walk then please get in touch. (I can also do walks on weekdays.)
We successfully tried out the walk with social distancing in place and so I’d like to try more dates.
Thanks to the Promenaders for trying out The Carrington Crawl!
The Carrington Crawl looks at the domestic architecture of Watson Fothergill and his assistant LG Summers at Mapperley Road, Sherwood Rise and Carrington.
In support of Primary taking their talk series Tell Me Something I Don’t Know online for a special event, some of their past talks are now available to listen to on Soundcloud.
I talked about my research into Watson Fothergill’s assistant, Lawrence George Summers and some of the paths that led me to explore.
I’ve written about being on the trail of Summers before here and here.
Design for a Town Hall by Lawrence G Summers. Lithograph from The Buildings News, 1974.
The Fothergill book I refer to in the talk is Fothergill: A Catalogue of the Works of Watson Fothergill by Darren Turner, which is available from the author.
The door to L.G. Summers office, inside 15 George Street, Nottingham. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.Douglas Byng. Half-Brother of Louise, L.G. Summers’ wife, and one of “The Queens of England”
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.
A chance to go inside Clawson Lodge, a house designed by Fothergill on Mansfield Road.
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.
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.
Having studied the building from the outside, the chance to have a look around inside the Offices of Watson Fothergill on George Street, Nottingham was too good to resist. Many thanks to Sarah Julian of BBC Radio Nottingham for giving me the opportunity and to the Bragas for letting me take a few quick photos and letting me talk to them about the building.
Following on from my previous blog about getting through the door to find a quote from Geoffrey Chaucer, here we go up stairs to find the offices that have been turned into a two bedroom flat.
Fothergill built his office on George Street in 1894-5 after having to vacate his previous set up on Clinton Street when the railway came through. Typically, he had been prepared for the move and bought the site on George Street. He demolished the previous building in readiness for building his office. Aged 54 at the time, he was a confident and mature architect, his office serves as a three dimensional portfolio, and a lot of his later work around Nottingham seems to have followed on from this construction. It demonstrates his capabilites to his wealthy Nottingham clients and showed them the quality to which his creations aspired.
Up to the first floor and I noticed a familiar name on the door! (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
I managed to grab a few photos, but as well as being rather overwhelmed I was also talking to Sarah for the radio piece, so forgive the rather snatched images! Up on the first floor, the first thing that caught my eye was the nameplates on the internal doors. The larger of the two rooms bore the initials L.G. Summers (Fothergill’s assistant, co-architect but never partner, in the practice Lawrence George Summers who will be familiar to readers of this blog.)
On the other door, a suitably Gothic name plate. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
The owners pointed out that the door with Fothergill’s name on lead to the smaller of the two rooms, they deduced that this was so that, in a building heated by coal fires, the boss would have the warmer office. It is also the office on the turret side of the building.
The fireplace in Fothergill’s office looks likely to be original. Nice Gothic ballflower detail. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)The niche above Fothergill’s fireplace has some Gothic touches surviving and the ceiling was panelled. We weren’t sure about all the wallpaper! (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
There was a sense in the room that it would have made a cosy place to work, there was a connecting door through to Summers’ office and then the landing between them and the small waiting room that has been extended into a modern kitchen.
Fireplace and parquet flooring in what would have been the small waiting room area at the back. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer) Summers’ office has been turned into the lounge of the flat. This is the larger room at the front on the first floor. The fireplace was off-centre and we couldn’t agree if this was an original feature. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)The view out the back window of the cottages in Brewitt’s yard. The one closest on the left has been incorporated into the building to make the kitchen and bathroom. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)The landing window contained some more coloured glass and what seems to be a quote from ‘The Life of Christ’ by Frederick Farrar (1874) perhaps a book that Fothergill, who had his religious moments, had read and taken to heart? (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)The staircase up to the second floor. No one seemed to know what the statue represents; it was left by the previous owner. The niche suggests there has always been some art there but was it this? Anyone know who the chap with the bells is? (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)The room in the turret, you can just see a panel in the ceiling which would have allowed you to look up into the workings and see the herringbone structure. It was currently full of insulation, but perhaps imagine Fothergill showing clients the quality of the woodwork inside his tower! (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)The door to the other room upstairs, the owner had been staying there so I didn’t get a picture of inside! Presumably Fothergill’s apprentices and assistants worked upstairs. They had a fireplace in every room. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)In the little room that had been made into the toilet, was this tiny window. The owners removed a pulley system that seems to have been for hauling bags of coal up to the top floor in order to heat the offices. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
It was tricky to get more photos and talk at the same time so there’s just a flavour of what the building was like inside and we didn’t get time to look in the shop downstairs or further into the yard.
The conversion seems to be sympathetic – the building was used as a solicitors office prior to being sold (at least twice) so it had been disused for quite sometime. The quality of the workmanship on the repairs is first rate. It was mentioned that Fothergill had made a sturdy structure with a stone or concrete foundation – without which, the damage that was inflicted in 2015 might have destroyed the front of the building. Bonsers have written about the restoration they carried out on their website.
I will be running more Watson Fothergill guided walks into July and August – you can find dates and details via my Eventbrite page where you can book tickets. Private tours can be arranged – get in touch with Lucy via the contact page.
In my last few blogs I’ve been looking at the life and work of Lawrence George Summers who was Watson Fothergill’s assistant and an architect in his own right, albeit a somewhat less flamboyant one.
The last installment left off in New Basford, from where I walked back to Sherwood Rise. I passed Fothergill’s Norris Homes and further down Berridge Road at the corner with Cedar Road I found a large three storey block which originally comprised Five Dwellng Houses and a Shop (LGS16). Summers didn’t sign the drawings but there is evidence that he worked on them in 1902. The client was Mr George Hayes.
The corner of Berridge Road and Cedar Road, with traces of the 1902 building. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.The shop front still visible on the corner of Cedar Road, but building heavily altered. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
Over on the other side of Mansfield Road, into Mapperley Park can be found what is likely to be the latest building to be signed off by LG Summers. The house built for Mrs Eleanor Ellenberger (Watson Fothergill’s 4th daughter) on Thorncliffe Road (LGS29).
The house on Thorncliffe Road that LG Summers built for Fothergill’s daughter Eleanor Ellenberger. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
The date stones are marked 1930. Given that plans were submitted in 1929 after Fothergill’s death in 1928, it can perhaps be assumed that the house was built with his inheritance.
The date stones 19 & 30 at Thorncliffe Road. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
Of all the houses built by Summers that I’ve found so far, this last one seems to show the least of Fothergill’s influence, but by the 1920s fashions in architecture had moved on considerable from the Gothic and Vernacular styles that were interpretted in the work coming out of the George Street Office in the late 19th century.
Gables and varied roof lines still feature in Summers’ late work. Photo: Lucy Brouwer. Unusual corner windows make a handsome feature on Mrs Ellenberger’s house. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
In 1894 Eleanor Fothergill Watson Fothergill (as her maiden name became when her father had his moment at the deed poll) married the German-born (but naturalised British) violin teacher Georg Hieronymus Ellenberger (1862-1918). They lived in Nottingham at Lindum house (at the corner of Burns Street near All Saints Church from at least 1899) and towards then end of his life they lived in Ecceleshall, Sheffield.
Georg Ellenberger was a pupil of the violinist Joseph Joachim (a collaborator of Joannes Brahms) and was himself violin teacher to the young Hucknall-born Eric Coates around 1898. Coates would take the train from Hucknall to Nottingham for his lessons twice a week. Coates became a composer, and is probably best known for the Dam Busters March.
After Georg’s death, Eleanor appears to have returned to Nottingham. She died in 1946. It was her son, Brigadier George Fothergill Ellenberger who transcribed some of Fothergill’s family history notes (this typed document is held at the local studies library in Angel Row.)
In the last blog I found out some more about LG Summers’ family background. This time I’m going to take a look at some of his buildings.
Starting from Sherwood, I went for a wander to find some of the buildings designed by Lawrence George Summers which are still standing in Nottingham. Around the corner from the larger blocks of Fothergill houses on Mansfield Road is a small house on Bingham Road which has characteristics easily mistaken for Fothergill, a decorative turret and a vernacular gable with brick nogging in distinctive red bricks with black timber.
Bingham Road, Built 1921. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
This garage is actually the work of Geoff Jordan who lives in a house by Summers next door! (Correction 2021 – LB)
Turret and gable at Bingham Road showing some familiar motifs. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.Bingham Road house by LG Summers, 1921. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
The house on Bingham Road (LGS25) was built for Thomas M. Basnett, a retired plumber’s merchant in 1921. See my Carrington Crawl walk for more details.
A further foray into Carrington and eventually I find the next house on my list, on Herbert Road (LGS12). Little seems to be known about this, other than plans were approved in 1897 and the client was Mr J B Hughes.
Some interesting features in the roof line, the brick work and the windows make this house slightly more than initially meets the eye. Herbert Road, 1897. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.The house on Herbert Road is one of several that seem to have been built around the same time, but each has its own idiocyncracies. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.From the back the interesting roof layout is more apparent but the windows have been replaced. The lower roof in front belongs to next door. Herbert Road. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
The next house on the trail was on Central Avenue (LGS22), not far away. This was built for Gilbert L Summers, LG’s nephew, in 1914. Summers marked his name on the application with “ARIBA”. After Fothergill retired LG signs off with his qualification. In the 1911 census Gilbert was living at 44 Central Avenue with his widowed father Frederick (LG’s brother), his sister Evelyn and his niece (LG’s sister Lola’s daughter) Clara Richardson lived-in as their housekeeper. (It was common practice that an unmarried female member of the extended family would live-in to provide domestic help to unmarried or widowed male relatives.)
Not many original features seem to survive in the house on Central Avenue. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
Gilbert Lawrence Summers is listed in the 1911 census as a Sewing Machine Mechanic. Perhaps he was working in the family lace firm in New Basford. By 1939, when a register was taken, Gilbert appears to be living in Wiverton Road (around the corner from other Summers buildings in Berridge Road) with his wife Lily.
Many of Lawrence Summers’s buildings (at least the ones he signs off himself) were for members of his extended family in the New Basford area.
Over on Duke Street, a little further up the street from the site of the house where LG was born, are “Two Cottages” (LGS15). Built in 1899, these three storey houses stand out in a street that is now mostly light industrial buildings and modern additions.
The two cottages built by LG Summers on Duke Street. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
The cottages on Duke Street on Picture Nottingham. It is wrongly attributed to Watson Fothergill (with their standard caption for his work).
At the time, Summers was signing himself as “Architect of Corporation Oaks”. In 1881 various members of the Summers family were living on Duke Street. The numbering of the houses has changed and perhaps the old family home was demolished. His sister Lola, Mrs Richardson, and her family were living at 2 Duke Street, and his father George Summers with second wife Louisa, plus Lawrence’s younger brothers Frederick and Alexander were next door at number 4. In the 1891 census LG is living with his brother Frederick and his family at number 4, while their father, George, is at number 2 with Louisa and their 9 year old son William. Did they subsequently move up Duke Street to the new cottages that LG designed with himself as the client? In 1910, Summers applied to extend the Duke Street houses into shops (LGS21), again he himself was the client, which suggested that members of the Summers family were indeed living in the cottages. As far as I can tell these are now the adjacent property which has been turned back into dwellings. The shape of the shop fronts remain, albeit much altered.
The extension, originally shops, on the corner of Duke Street and Gawthorne Street. Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
Lawrence’s youngest brother Alexander was still living in New Basford in 1901 and is listed on the census as a Pork Butcher and Shopkeeper, so perhaps the shop was his?
Following the road, past what are now mostly motor garages in older industrial buildings, some dated 1840s and some 1870s, an indication that this area was already industrial at the time the Summers family lived here when Lawrence was a child. His father’s lace business was almost certainly here.
Down at the bottom on Northgate, it is just possible to recognise the small two storey factory (LGS3), that Summers designed for James Allen in 1882.
Northgate factory premises. A fairly basic version of the lace top shop perhaps? Photo: Lucy Brouwer.
At this time Summers is signing himself as “Architect, 11 South Parade Nottingham” (South Parade makes up the side of the Market Square that runs up the opposite side to Long Row). Summers was admitted to RIBA in 1881 but isn’t using letters after his name at this point. It is assumed he was in the Clinton Street office with Fothergill from around 1879, having also been articled as a pupil to Issac Charles Gilbert from 1869. (His studies at the Mechanics Institute and Nottingham School of Art were running concurrently).
Look out for the next installment of my blog as I carry on into Mapperley Park on the trial of LG Summers…
I hope to organise a walk featuring some of Fothergill and Summers buildings in and around Sherwood, Sherwood Rise and Mapperley Park later this year – sign up to my mailing list for the latest news or “like” the Facebook page.
Some detective work looking for the rather elusive “architect’s assistant”.
I’ve been using some online archives to see if there is anything else out there about Lawrence G. Summers and after some digging I think I’ve come up with a few clues.
Starting with Ancestry.com (which is available to use for free in Nottinghamshire Libraries and is an invaluable starting point if you enjoy a bit of basic historical sleuthing), I found Summers in the census and tried to make a few dates add up. The problem with online research is that often transcription of handwriting (the speedy pen of the census taker, the scratchy hand of the baptismal registrar) is full of errors. I eventually tracked Summers down in the 1861 census – at age 6, living with his parents, brother and sister at 80 Duke Street, New Basford. (Later in his career Summers will be responsible for several building projects in Duke Street, more on these in the next blog.)
By 1871, the Summers family address has become 83 Duke Street, 16 year old Lawrence is already noted as an “architects clerk” and he has gained another younger brother. I’ve not had much luck with the 1881 census and finding L.G. in 1891 was a little harder as his name has been transcribed as “Laurence”, but he turns up living with his younger brother Frederick and his family, still on Duke Street. L.G. is 35 by now and is still noted as an architects clerk. His brother (and his father, who lives next door) are both listed as “Lace Warpers”. In a trade listing from 1899 Summers seems at last to have moved out and he is listed as “Architect’s Assistant” living at 8 Corporation Oaks (while brother Fred is now of “Summers and Son” and is still at Duke Street).
All this tallies with what Darren Turner has compiled in his book. But what of Summers the man? Who was his wife? And why does he show up as living alone as a single man aged 56 in the Gresham Hotel on Carrington Street in the 1911 census? (This one was a challenge as the whole page has been very poorly transcribed with New Basford transposed to “New Brentford” and architect read as “servant”, making it look like Summers worked in the hotel.)
To find out about a life, you often have to read about a person’s death, and so it is with Summers, the most that was ever written about him was after his funeral. When Summers died in September 1940, his death made the front pages of the local papers. The notices list the mourners (articles can be found on The British Newspaper Archive – also free to use inside Nottinghamshire Libraries) and from here I was able to narrow down the search. Summers’ wife is only ever refered to as “the widow” which seems to have been standard practice at the time. But luckily the familial relationships of the other people present were noted, so we can discover that Summers’ brother in law was a Mr Lewis Byng. More plugging away at Ancestry eventually stumps up the jackpot. Mrs Summers, nee Louise Martha Byng was married to Lawrence George Summers in 1927, when she was 56 and he was 73. This was a year after the death of her father, Joseph Tussaud Byng a banker with 12 children, and just a short time before the death of Watson Fothergill.
Lawrence and Louise appear again in the 1939 register now living together at 59 Edwards Lane. Lawrence died the following year, in November 1940 and Louise lived on until 1955, until the age of 84.
Looking at the Ancestry entries for the Byng family, one name stood out as it had also come up in searches of the Newspaper Archive with reference to the theatre… one of Louise Byng’s younger (half-) brothers was Douglas Coy Byng and as it turns out he was on the stage… in fact he was a celebrated Pantomime Dame, singer, cabaret star and female impersonator famed for his double entrendres! Here he is talking about the panto dame tradition in 1982:
And here is a performance of a comic song!
Summers’ Brother in Law Douglas Byng had a long and illustrious show biz career, both he and L.G. Summers were at J.T. Byng’s funeral so perhaps they met?
Byng was instrumental in developing “glamour drag” and played upper class female comic characters.
Next time… more about L.G. Summers’ buildings in Nottingham. If you think you might be related to the Summers family who lived in New Basford it would be great to hear from you! The family turn up in a few family trees on Ancestry, so some cousins a few times removed might be out there…
