I’ve been busy reading, researching and thinking about new walks and talks for the new year. But I’m ready to get out walking again, so I’ve set up some dates for The Watson Fothergill Walk in February and March 2020.
The first walk, which will start at 10am outside Nottingham Tourism Centre and finish at Debbie Bryan on St Mary’s Gate, will take place on 16 February. Tickets are £12 each and include coffee or tea and cake at the end of the walk.
It is once again likely that I will be adding afternoon walks to these dates if there is sufficient demand, so if you prefer to start at 1pm, please get in touch to express an interest…
A busy August so far with several walks, both public and private. It’s great to share the love for Nottingham’s architecture with so many people. Here’s some of the Facebook reviews I’ve received so far.
A very informative and interesting walk, Lucy is obviously very passionate about the subject. A very hot, sunny Sunday so we were all wilting a bit but loved it and got some good photos. I was born and bred in Nottingham but learnt a lot from this walk. I will walk around in future looking up at the history of our (mainly) beautiful city.
Heather, Facebook, August 2019
Did the walk today, interesting informative and a super guide. I would recommend this to anyone interested in architecture or the history of Nottingham
Brenda, Facebook, August 2019
The next Watson Fothergill Walks will be in September 2019 – there are three dates now booking on Eventbrite.
Thanks to Alec Frusher (a keen Nottingham food blogger who follows me on Twitter, and who just happens to work in one of the largest Watson Fothergill buildings in the city) I was able go inside the building on King Street now known as Fothergill House. It was built as a Department Store for Jessop & Son circa 1895.
The Jessops building has 7 floors and a tower and I was going as close to the top as I could! Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Some changable summer weather struck just as I arrived to meet Alec to explore the floors at the top of the buildings but we pressed on and I took a few photos as we went.
This part of the building is now called Fothergill House in honour of its architect. Photo: Lucy Brouwer Photo: Lucy Brouwer
At the firm where Alec works they have meeting rooms with appropriate names. (They’ve also commemorated Zebedee Jessop, one of the founders of the Store.)
Through a locked door to the disused upper levels… Photo: Lucy Brouwer
We went up two flights of stairs to access the rooms that now hold tanks and heating. I think originally they were part of the staff accomodation.
The upper rooms were in a bit of a state, but some of the features had been uncovered… Photo: Lucy Brouwer
The paint was peeling off, strip lights had been added and it was a bit dusty. There were some exploratory holes in the walls in places, but otherwise the structure looked in decent shape.
It became apparent that the view from the windows would be pretty impressive, even on a misty wet day. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
There seemed to be original leaded windows on each side, and lots of strudy woodwork to support the structure.
And so it proved. Across the gable roofline of the rest of the building with characteristically large Fothergill chimneys. You can see the corner of the old Elite Cinema (in white). Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Some of the views of Nottingham are blocked by more recent buildings, but you can imagine that the view from here (and from the tower itself) was very impressive when this was built in 1895 – it would have been one of the tallest structures around.
A pretty special view of Queens Chambers (King Street’s other Fothergill) and Nottingham rooftops even on such a murky day! Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Queens Chambers shares some of the features of Fothergill’s late 1890s Vernacular Style with Jessops and was the next building he built.
This unprepossessing step ladder led up inside the tower, I wasn’t allowed to step inside but I managed to see the rafters… Photo: Lucy Brouwer
We kept going up so I could have a look inside the tower. We didn’t dare go inside it, but I could see that there was a viewing platform at the very top. Was it just built for the view or did it ever have another purpose?
Up inside the tower, you can see the woodwork, the windows and the brick patterning. All looking fairly solid. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
I imagine that the rafters and timbers here are a larger version of the kind of craftsmanship that Fothergill had built into the turrets on his other buildings.
Alec was saving the best bit for last… through this door to the roof. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
After a look around inside, we braved the rain to have a look out on the roof platform. There were metal walkways, so it was very safe to explore inbetween the air-con units added to the modern offices.
We turned round to get a lesser-seen view of the tower. Photo: Lucy BrouwerAnd a view down the back of the roof (towards Parliament St.) Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Jessops was expanded to the back of the site in 1933 when the stone became part of The John Lewis Partnership. From this quick inspection, I’m not sure if the flat roof is part of that or a more recent renovation.
Great Fothergill details, even at the back of the tower. Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Pleasingly the back view of the tower had all the elements of Fothergill’s style that you would expect, large chimneys, orange bricks arranged between black timbers, large dormer windows…
I was thrilled to see some of that typical Fothergill brick nogging so close up! Photo: Lucy Brouwer
I love the details of brick nogging and big dormer windows, that hardly anyone will get to see.
Diagonal brickwork in the chimney. Photo: Lucy BrouwerOne for the masonry fans… Photo: Lucy BrouwerMysteriously derelict room on top of the building next door. Any ideas what it was for? Photo: Lucy Brouwer
Huge thanks to Alec for taking me up to the roof and letting me look around as well as to his firm for sparing him the time, and David on reception for showing me some of the Fothergill pictures which decorate the interior.
I found an image of Fothergill’s original plan online. The tower design was slightly altered in the finished building. The John Lewis archive has some photos of the store on their website. Jessops became part of the John Lewis Partnership in 1933, when this photo was taken. They traded on the site until moving to the Victoria Centre in 1972. (Photo: John Lewis Memory Store)The only photos I can find so far of the interior are from 1937. The man on the far left is William Dickinson, nephew of William Daft, one of the firm’s original partners. He worked for Jessops for 72 years starting in 1868 at age 16. Photo: John Lewis Memory Store.
One last Fothergill link I’ve found while digging in the British Newspaper Archives: Lawrence Summers (Fothergill’s right hand man) attended the funeral in 1919 of William Jessop (who had succeeded his father Zebedee Jessop to run the firm).
Learn more about Jessops and Watson Fothergill’s buildings in Nottingham on the next Watson Fothergill Walks in August. Tickets here.
There are a handful of tickets left for the 21 July evening walk and you can get tickets here. Also, I will be conducting some more Watson Fothergill Walks in August 2019.
First up, 18 August sees another Sunday morning walk starting at 10am, which will conclude at Debbie Bryan with tea and cake. Tickets here.
Another chance to try the Watson Fothergill Walk. Tickets here.
I will also be walking in the evening of 22 August, starting at 6pm and finishing up at Fothergill’s pub (for optional food and drinks). Tickets here.
I try to keep the walks to small groups of around 20 people, so if they fill up and you miss oout on tickets, please sign up for the mailing list and try again or think about booking me for a private group tour – I’m interested in taking groups of between 6 and 20 people around Nottingham at times to suit them. Get in touch!
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.
Thanks to Sarah Julian from BBC Radio Nottingham (who had previously been on one of my Watson Fothergill Walks) I recently got the chance to go inside Watson Fothergill’s office building on George Street, Nottingham.
Fothergill’s Office at 15 George Street, with the shop built in at 17, plus the doorway to Brewitt’s Yard. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
The current owners have completed the project to turn the building into a residence – making the top two floors that were once home to Fothergill and his team into a two bedroom flat with a kitchen and bathroom reclaimed out of the space that was once part of the cottages that sit at the rear of the building in Brewitt’s Yard. The flat had been on the market and we saw our chance to have a look inside and report for BBC Radio Nottingham on our findings!
Through the door and inside! (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
The first thing we noticed was the fantastic condition of the tiles inside the vestibule…and then I looked up and saw the carvings!
Inner door with leaded glass and terracotta tiles in hallway. Tiles around the vestibule in lovely condition. Sunflowers and Gothic motifs. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)Above the door, I was able to decipher some writing… (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)… I thought it looked like it might be something like William Morris’s motto: “Ars Longa, Vita Brevis” (Art lasts but life is short)…(Photo: Lucy Brouwer) …but then I realised I couldn’t quite read the letters because it was in Middle English. One quick search on my phone later…(Photo: Lucy Brouwer)…and I realised it was a quote from Chaucer’s The Parliament of Birds, which Fothergill has applied to the craft of architecture. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
Above the door I was able to decipher some writing but it was tricky to see with the automatic light that had been added. It looked quite Gothic and that immediately made me excited because it fitted in with what you might expect Fothergill to have in his building. The carving was in great condition, being inside, but it was really hard to read. At first I thought it might say something along the lines of Ars Longa, Vita Brevis (William Morris’s motto – Art lasts but life is short) which would be appropriate for Fothergill, who would have been familiar with Morris’s work and ideas to some extent. But when I looked closer I realised the reason I couldn’t quite read the text was that it was in Middle English! That A-Level where I read the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales was at last coming in handy. A quick bit of Googling on my phone and all was revealed. This was a few lines from Chaucer – not ones I knew but once I’d worked them out they made sense:
The lyf so short, the craft so longe to lerne. Th’ assay so hard, so sharp the conquerynge,
Something of a fan of all things medieval, of course Fothergill would have something like this, relevant to his trade – to learning crafts and making an effort – above his door to read every time he came in or out.
Sarah Julian interviewing Mr Braga (the present owner’s Father)( Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
Of course these details hadn’t featured on the estate agent’s photos (the property was up for rent, hence Sarah was able to get access) so I was really quite excited… I’d already seen some of the restoration work done on the tiled floor thanks to this blog from the Tile Doctor who carried out the work, but that had just been a tantalising glimpse of what lay ahead. The interior retains a lot of the details that might be expected of a building with such a flamboyant exterior. Colourful Gothic -inspired stained glass in the hall for instance.
Through the door and inside to see more of Fothergill’s details. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer)
Another instalment coming up… I’ll share photos of the interior as the office is converted into a flat (now let) and piece together a little about how Fothergill might have worked in the building.
Listen out to BBC Radio Nottingham as the interview should be on Sarah’s morning show sometime this week…
July sees the 178th anniversary of Fothergill’s birth, so it seems fitting to offer more chances to explore his Nottingham buildings on The Watson Fothergill Walk.
The next dates will be two walks on 21 July 2019:
Join Lucy to explore Watson Fothergill’s Nottingham, includes tea or coffee and cake at Debbie Bryan. Tickets here.
The first will be in the afternoon at 2pm, ending at Debbie Bryan with drinks and cake. Tickets here.
The evening walk will finish at Fothergill’s pub. Tickets here.
(Watson Fothergill’s birthday is actually 12th July but I can’t do a walk that day!)
If you can’t make either of these but are still interested in joining the guided tour you can either arrange a private walk for you and your group (minimum 6, maximum 20 people) contact Lucy for details. Or sign up to the mailing list to get the latest dates sent to your inbox.
One of the best known building associated with Watson Fothergill in Nottingham is one that is no longer standing, The Black Boy Hotel on Long Row, which was demolished in 1970. As a few folks on the Watson Fothergill Walk have asked for pictures, I thought I’d collect together some images and thoughts on the building here.
Fothergill worked on The Black Boy Hotel throughout his career, beginning with buildings in the yard to the rear in 1869, while he was still in the employ of Issac Gilbert. The land on which the hotel was built belonged to the Brunts’ Charity. Fothergill’s association with the Black Boy would last until his retirement as the charity’s surveyor in 1910. In 1874 Fothergill worked on a carriage house or stock room, again in the yard.
The Black Boy Hotel before the central tower was built in the 1890s. Nottingham Post.
In 1878 he rebuilt part of the premises on the eastern side of the yard (Jessops shop), these were in turn demolished in 1897 when the hotel was reconstructed and Fothergill built a large department store for Jessops on King Street. In 1886 there was a more major rebuilding of the Long Row frontage and shops, as the top part of the old building had become uninhabitable. Fothergill opted to rebuild rather than restore the 200 year old building, planning 5 floors.
In 1892 he rebuilt the back wing of this part of the hotel adding a bar, a luggage room, a smoking room, a billiard room and 13 more bedrooms. The first major project to witness the reversal of Fothergill’s name to Watson Fothergill was an additional story on the stable block in 1893.
Advert for the Black Boy Hotel circa 1950s. Model of the Black Boy Hotel from Richard Upton’s exhibition, The Black Boy Hotel: Gone But Not Forgotten, at the Nottingham Industrial Museum. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer).Back view of the model, showing many additions and alterations. (Photo: Lucy Brouwer.)
Find out more about The Black Boy Hotel and the buildings of Watson Fothergill that are still standing in Nottingham on The Watson Fothergill Walk, tickets available for 12 June, 6pm and 30 June, 1pm.
I (Lucy Brouwer) was invited on to BBC Radio Nottingham to talk about the Watson Fothergill Walk to DJ Dean Jackson (standing in for Alan Clifford) on the afternoon show and you can listen again here at about 3:08 (after Cher!).
I talked about Watson Fothergill’s office, the Gothic Revival, and what to expect on the Watson Fothergill Walk…
Detail of Benjamin Creswick’s Terracotta Panel on 15 & 17 George Street, Nottingham.
More dates for my walks are now booking as follows:
The Hine Hike, an evening walk exploring some of the Nottingham buildings of the Victorian architect Thomas Chambers Hine, will take place on Wednesday 5th June 2019, starting at 6pm. Tickets are £12, available here.
There will be another chance to join me for The Watson Fothergill Walk on Wednesday 12th June 2019, starting at 6pm. On this walk we will see some of Nottingham’s most striking Victorian buildings, designed by the architect Watson Fothergill (a.k.a. Fothergill Watson). Tickets are £12, available here.
Watson Fothergill Walk Evening Edition: 12 June 2019, tickets here.
The next opportunity to join me for the Debbie Bryan Edition of the Watson Fothergill Walk (including drinks and cake) will be 30th June 2019, 1pm. Tickets are £12 and can be found on Eventbrite: here.
All those dates are in one place on Eventbrite here.
Tickets for my talk on Watson Fothergill and Thomas Cecil Howitt (architect of Nottingham’s Council House) at Nottinghamshire Archives, 10 May, 2019 2.30pm are available here.
My talk on TC Hine at West Bridgford Library on 25 June 2019 is now sold out. If you would like me to talk to your group about Watson Fothergill or TC Hine (similar format to the walking tours, but with photos and without the walking!) then please get in touch.
I am also available to take small parties (between 6 and 20 people) on walks to suit your group. Interested? Email me to discuss your needs.
