21 Wellington Road

Summary

A small textile (wool) warehouse of around 1860, altered in the C20.

Reasons for Designation

21 Wellington Road, Dewsbury, constructed around 1860, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is an early example of a small-scale urban palazzo warehouse, a regionally-distinctive building type associated with Dewsbury's textile industry at the peak of its prosperity and success; * with a principal elevation in Classical style originally designed to impress and convey the status and quality of the goods and business contained within; * retaining interior features of interest associated with its original design and its later commercial use as a costumier’s shop.

Historic interest:

* it reflects Dewsbury’s position as the national centre of the shoddy and mungo industry in the second half of the C19, the forerunner of modern-day recycling industries.

Group value:

* it has strong group value with neighbouring historic former warehouses and the railway station which all shared functional links with the textile industry.

History

21 Wellington Road stands within a block of land which had been acquired before 1848 by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), but not ultimately needed for railway purposes. The land bounded by Nelson Street, Wellington Road and Wellington Street was auctioned off in 12 lots in 1851. The 1852 Ordnance Survey (OS) 1:1,056 town plan (which was surveyed in 1850-1851) shows that these streets had been laid out by then, but not developed. The sales particulars for the auction suggest that since that survey, the west end of Back Nelson Street had also been defined.

The expansion and importance of Dewsbury as a textile town, and the wealth that was generated from the textile industry in the latter half of the C19, was due in no small part to the development of a warehouse system to take advantage of the railway after it arrived in 1848. Substantial, sometimes monumental, packing and shipping warehouses were developed for woollens, in particular shoddy and mungo, of which this area was the national centre.

In the late-C19 the names Wellington Road and Wellington Street were somewhat interchangeable, and so directory entries cannot be relied on for determining when development took place here. However, this building does appear on Malcolm Paterson’s plan of 1870. It was probably built shortly after the two buildings to the north, which are thought to have been built around 1855. The OS 1:2,500 map of 1894 (surveyed 1888-1889) marks this block as warehouses.

It is known to have been occupied by a painter and decorator, Thomas Bray, and from 1891 number 21 was being used by a dressmaker Hannah Howard for making and selling mantles, dresses and hats. By 1901 Howard’s family had moved into the building and her son Charlie took over the business. In 1913 the property was auctioned as a ‘dwelling-house and costumier’s shop’. Late in the C20, the roof was replaced with a modern flat roof, and some of the front windows were replaced. It is currently - 2022 - used as offices.

Details

A small textile (wool) warehouse of around 1860, altered in the C20.

MATERIALS: buff sandstone walls, modern roof.

PLAN: facing west and abutted at the north by 19 Wellington Road, at the south by 23 and 25 Wellington Road and at the east (lower two storeys) by 5 Wellington Street.

EXTERIOR: standing in the Dewsbury Town Centre Conservation Area and forming part of a block of smaller warehouses. The building is of three storeys (four at the rear), with a narrow, two-bay frontage in a Classical style.

The stonework is of thin, regular courses and dressed, with ashlar plat bands to each floor, and a moulded stone eaves cornice. The entrance has a basket-arched surround and paired original panelled doors. Paired ground-floor windows to the left are arched with moulded, keystone surrounds with capitals (and replacement timber casements). The first-floor windows (paired to the left and a single window above the entrance) have moulded sills and consoled flat hoods (with replacement upvc casements). The upper floor has two windows with stone sills and segmental soldier heads, and original multi-pane timber sash windows with horns.

The rear (east) wall is visible above the abutting 5 Wellington Street, and has similar stonework and windows to the front, with single-pane sash windows. The roof is flat and felted.

INTERIOR: the vestibule is panelled and corniced, and has marble steps and an Art Nouveau etched-glass timber screen with round window over. The original stair remains with cast-iron balusters and timber handrail. Some cornicing and decorative joinery remains, some above suspended ceilings. The first floor retains an original marble fireplace with inserted Art Nouveau tiled surround.

Sources

Books and journals
Harman, R, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England. Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South, (2017), 204
Kelly, ER, Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire Pt 1 (Places A-K), (1881), 295
White, W, Directory of Leeds, etc, (1858), 548
White, W, Directory of Leeds, etc, (1866), 402
White, W, Directory of Leeds, etc, (1870), 463
Websites
Goad fire insurance map of 1887, from British Library website, accessed 22/05/2022 from https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/firemaps/england/yorkshire/largeimage147793.html
Other
Advertisement for building auction, Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 15 March 1913, p2
Advertisements for Howard's costumiers, Batley Reporter and Guardian, 11 April 1891, p4 and Batley News, 5 April 1907, p4
Newspaper advertisements for Porritt and Bray, The Reporter, 30 March 1895, p5 and 14 March 1896, p5
Obituary for Thomas Porritt, The Reporter, 30 April 1892, p8

End of official list entry