Artwork on the boarded-up windows of Groves Chapel, 22 April 2013

Today’s ‘April daily photo’ was taken on this day in 2013. It’s a piece of street art — part of ‘Phil’s Street Art Project’ — next to a rather tatty-looking advertising flier, both of them stuck on what appears to be an empty building, with boarded-up windows.

It’s actually the front of Groves Chapel, on Clarence Street. Phil and everyone else could have been forgiven for thinking it was an empty building, as it certainly looked like one. It’s had boarded-up windows for years and years. Since at least 2004, when I first took a photo of it, and probably for decades before that. Because the chapel hasn’t been used a chapel since the 1970s.

It is still in use, by the health service, though you wouldn’t know that from looking at it. And the sale of it, an unwanted property asset, puts funds back into the health service, though you wouldn’t know that from reading recent letters to the Press. The granting of planning permission for a convenience store and residential accommodation in and behind the existing building has provoked angry comment.

I find all this interesting, as I’ve been walking past this building for years, and have written about it several times since it went on the market. (And carry on doing so, as it’s interesting to follow the progress of the plans.) If it does house a Sainsbury’s convenience store then that will be very convenient for me, and hundreds of other people who live within walking distance. Most people I’ve spoken to who live near enough to be potential customers are in favour of the plans, as are many people who visit the nearby hospital regularly.

But people who live further away have felt strongly enough about it to write to the Press in response to the planning permission. One letter came from Brian Watson (former councillor) on Beckfield Lane (Acomb), who said it was the worst place in York for a supermarket, accompanied by another from a resident of St Paul’s Square (Holgate): ‘Filled with sadness as iconic building is turned into another supermarket‘.

I don’t like the idea of anyone being filled with sadness, particularly about a building, and particularly because I’ve felt great sadness myself on occasions about particular buildings. But that’s usually because the buildings were going to be destroyed, demolished. Groves Chapel isn’t. It’s being saved, and refurbished. Its impressively confident front will still proclaim its name and year of erection/opening in stone across the wide junction towards the Groves area it was built to serve. Hidden away from public view what’s left of the historic parts of its interior will be repaired and preserved above the supermarket’s ceiling. And a lot of the people in the Groves will no doubt flock over there to its entrance to buy groceries, just as our ancestors flocked over there to worship.

I appreciate that this change of use may be troubling. But the chapel presumably closed because of dwindling congregations, just like many others in this city and elsewhere, and because large grand chapel buildings like this are expensive to maintain.

Though they’ve not all closed. One was featured in the Press some months back: £3m plan announced to turn York city-centre church into community centre.

Letters and online comments about Groves Chapel have called it ‘iconic’, ‘beautiful’. It might have been once, but it’s a shadow of its former self inside. Whereas the Central Methodist chapel is beautiful inside, with similar features, but in this case preserved and cared for, and still in use, though it’s 40 years older than Groves Chapel.

It has characterful curved pews in its handsome gallery, colourful glass in its windows and a fine-sounding organ, which I heard on one memorable occasion, on one of the Heritage Open Days a few years back.

If we really care that much about these large Methodist chapels built by our ancestors then perhaps we could divert some of our energies and attention to supporting the Central Methodist church on St Saviourgate?

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A page some weeks back looked at the planning application for the former fire station/chapel buildings on the corner of Clifford Street and Peckitt Street. The scheme had a number of comments submitted in support, early on, from quite far afield in some cases. Since then many objections have been submitted. They’re online on this link (or search here for reference number 15/02155/FULM and look for the Documents and Comments).

Jonathan Kenyon, Development Management Officer at City of York Council (PDF on this link), cites the various ‘valid material considerations’ raised by the objections as grounds to refuse the application. He suggests in a letter to the applicants that the scheme is withdrawn and re-considered. So it seems unlikely to go ahead and be approved.

But of course that’s not the end of the story as there will be other proposed schemes for the site. And the application has meant that attention has focused on the buildings, and the considered responses to the proposed scheme help us better understand and appreciate what’s there already.

The chapel facade on Peckitt Street is the most obvious ‘historic’ part. But, as mentioned in my earlier piece last year when the disused fire station went on the market, the reuse as a fire station is interesting in itself. The building on that prominent corner has such a visible/identifiable story or stories, in the rather surprising reuse of a chapel as a fire station in the 1930s.

I wondered what was on record, perhaps in the council minutes of the time, regarding this inventive example of reuse and retention. On the one hand it seems very functional and practical, doesn’t it — we need a fire station in the city centre, there’s an old chapel, let’s put it in there. But why, in the late 1930s, did they not clear the site then and build a new fire station? Why did they keep and adapt the old chapel? And because they did that, 70-plus years ago, should we not give it more respect now? Are we actually less enlightened and appreciative than that generation of York citizens?

A report by Bill Fawcett, recently submitted to accompany the planning application objections, gives more background on this reuse, and covers in detail the history of the various buildings on the site. It should be available to read on this link to the planning application documents, but because the planning pages are rather strange and unreliable at times, and documents are often mysteriously unavailable, I’ve borrowed it and made it available here as well, which I hope no one will object to:

York Fire Station and Trinity Methodist Chapel site history, by Bill Fawcett (PDF)

An extract from that document:

… the chapel came out of its reconstruction surprisingly well. From Clifford Street you saw a well laid-out modern building; turn the corner and you had a Victorian frontage of some gusto. What lay behind this treatment? Obviously York had limited resources and the main requirement was to get an efficient modern building at minimal cost; that the new fire station subsequently functioned for three-quarters of a century suggests that this aim was fully met. Given that the chapel was in essence a big hall, its partial reconstruction was a very cost-effective way of achieving this. The issue then was – would there be any merit in cosmetic changes to the Peckitt Street frontage in order to match it to Clifford Street’s new image? At a time when Victorian buildings were regarded with distaste by most connoisseurs, this would have been very tempting but would have involved needless work and expense. Yet why treat the remains with such care? – because that is how architects of that period had been trained to behave. While ‘conservation’ as a general concept lay well in the future, you were not expected to needlessly butcher the details of a building, whether you liked them or not.

York Fire Station and Trinity Methodist Chapel site history, by Bill Fawcett (PDF)

Thinking about this building prompted me to look for other examples of 1930s fire stations, to see what other towns and cities had built, and what they were doing with these buildings now.

Here’s one example:

Acton Fire Station (1931), by stevecadman on Flickr

An example from 1936, Dunfermline:

Dunfermline Fire Station (1936), by Tom Parnell on Flickr

Closer to home, a 1937 fire station at Gipton, Leeds, is set to be reused as a community centre.

In Norwich, the 1930s Grade II listed fire station has a new role as a sixth form academy.

And in Birmingham, a large and imposing old fire station, also protected by its Grade II listing, has been turned into student accommodation, while retaining many of its original features, including the fireman’s pole. More here.

What should happen to York’s old fire station/chapel? This current planning application looks likely to be withdrawn. But another seems likely to follow. The buildings on the site already seem to tell a story of the previous century’s respect for interesting buildings. Will we show the same respect, or do we need to clear all buildings not protected by listing, in order to make more sites available for the much-needed housing?

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From one former chapel to another. A planning application for the redevelopment of the former fire station/chapel on Clifford Street was submitted recently and is open for comment.

The building has a Clifford Street address, but it’s a corner site, at the corner of Peckitt Street, stretching along one side of that short street right back to the riverside walkway. And that’s significant, as whatever is built on the site will be quite dominant in the streetscape from several important angles.

If you’re interested in seeing what is proposed, the best document to look at is the Design and Access Statement, available either via the main page for this application or directly accessible on this link (PDF). It has a good number of helpful ‘before and after’ images (pages 45-49) – what the view is now and what it would be with the proposed new development, from the many different vantage points. I’ve borrowed just a couple:

A recent Press article showed one viewpoint, from across the road looking towards the Clifford Street/Peckitt Street corner. It’s worth looking carefully at the others, as I think most of us might not have considered how much the redevelopment of this site would affect so many different views.

Having had a look I have to say that personally I really don’t like it. But that’s because I like what’s there already. Particularly the Peckitt Street frontage, the remnants of the chapel, the details on that side. I included them on an earlier page. I’d rather they were kept.

I’d rather the new development wasn’t so tall, but new developments always are, as we have to make best use of the available space.

There’s so much pressure to build new housing that any old building that doesn’t have listed status appears to be doomed to demolition, however interesting and/or visually pleasing it is. That seems to be the case here. We perhaps can’t afford to care too much about how things look. And if the thing we’re destroying is Victorian, perhaps that doesn’t matter in York, where we’re surrounded by so much architectural heritage from ages past. I think it’s really crass to demolish the Peckitt Street face of this former chapel and destroy those remaining architectural details, but that’s just my personal view.

If you’d like to comment on the planning application it’s on this link, reference number 15/02155/FULM.

The Design and Access Statement and other relevant documents are under the ‘Documents’ tab/section. To make a comment via the online system, look under the Comments tab/section which tells you how to register your comments.

If preferred you can also comment via email, to planning.enquiries@york.gov.uk. For comments to be registered you need to include your name, contact address (*but see note below*), and the reference number of the application (15/02155/FULM), or the address of the property (Fire Station 18 Clifford Street York YO1 9RD).

If you’ve studied the plans in more detail than I have, or if you’ve strong feelings based on the images included above, please feel free to add a comment here too.

* Note: It has always been my understanding that a postal address was necessary for comments to be registered as valid, and there are obvious reasons for that. The guidelines on the CYC site say the same. However, confusingly, comments without postal addresses are often presented among the objections online. So I’ve just emailed to check. The reply I’ve got says that they accept either an email address or a house address. If anyone else has more information on this apparent change of policy — as it seems rather open to abuse — please add a comment.

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There are of course former chapels all over York. When I started my ‘York Walks’ in 2004 these former ‘Nonconformist’ chapels (usually Methodist) were one of my first areas of interest. I looked for the remaining examples in the city centre and surrounding suburbs, and put online some of my photos, which in retrospect look hopelessly wonky and also rather small.

As Groves Chapel is in the news, it seems a good time to revisit the subject, and include larger versions of some of those images (straightened a bit where possible).

Not far away from the old Ebenezer Chapel, on nearby Swinegate, is another Nonconformist building, dating from the early 20th century. It survived as a place of worship until about a decade ago. In July 2004 this planning notice went up in one of its windows. (In 2004, these were yellow, and were everywhere. In 2014, they’re white, and are everywhere.)

The building had been used by the Elim Pentecostal Church for decades (since the mid-1930s, my research suggests). But it was built, as its front still proudly states, as the YORK CENTRAL MISSION HALL.

Now it’s a bar and restaurant called Biltmore.

A couple more photos of its exterior in 2004. A handsome, faded, painted sign:

And a sign in one of its windows, with a window frame apparently unpainted for decades. Illustrating the fact that these large old buildings can be difficult and costly to maintain. Too much expense perhaps for any church in the 21st century.

I remember walking by one morning in the intervening years when it was being turned into its new ‘A3 (food and drink)’ class of use. Against the morning light shining through a window, through the open door I caught a glimpse of a gallery and some wooden seating, through the dust. It seemed quite sad really. But inevitable.

Again, the reminders of those who built up their place of worship and education, brick by brick, still to be seen outside.

Perhaps the most surprising example of how much a change of use can turn away from the original purpose of a chapel building, in this rather wonky picture again from early 2004:

The former Monk Bar Chapel, on Goodramgate, recognisable from its elegant windows at first floor level, but with modern shop units driven through below. And in them, an illustration of our world in 2004: a tanning studio, a betting shop, and Blue Moon Trading, selling guns and military-related memorabilia. What would those Methodists have thought, I wonder.

Once these old chapels fell out of use, we either demolished them, as with Salem Chapel at the end of St Saviourgate, or reused them to serve us still in an ever-changing world. As printers’ workshops, carpet warehouses, storage space, or a fire station, or shops. In recent years, bars and restaurants. I wonder what those who used them for their original purpose would think, if they could see the various ways we’ve remodeled their buildings.

A reminder of how important these buildings were to the people who raised them up comes from this old photograph in the city archives.

© City of York Council

The accompanying information tells us that the photo shows the bricklaying ceremony in 1910 for the York Central Mission in Swinegate – now the Biltmore. These people are laying the bricks pictured above. ‘400 bricks were bought and people paid 7s to lay a brick in the wall facing Little Swinegate.’

So perhaps spare a thought for their hard work and their financial contributions, driven by their belief and their faith, while you’re in the Biltmore enjoying a meal or a drink. (It seems that you do so with the blessing of the building’s more recent occupants, the Elim church, according to this Press story from 2005.)

Many people objecting to the proposals for the reuse of Groves Chapel feel understandably upset at the thought that a former place of worship might have a shop on its ground floor. Most of us have never seen inside the Groves Chapel to know what remains of its original interior and how much might be destroyed by this proposed redevelopment of the building. But there’s clearly a long tradition of reusing these old chapels in various ways. At least Groves Chapel has the protection of being a listed building, so won’t be demolished, as several other chapels were.

To finish the page I’d like to mention a handsome survivor. A beautiful example of one of these old chapels, still with its handsome gallery, its warm brown worn wooden pews, it’s right under our noses in the city centre, looking out in knowledge of its superior handsomeness over the concrete of Stonebow House.

The Central Methodist church is often open for Heritage Open Days and the Residents First weekends for those of us who don’t want to attend a service but would like to see the building. If you get a chance, pay a visit, and if you’re lucky you’ll also experience the sound of organ music filling this fine old place, as I did.

Unlike the Groves Chapel, closed for decades, this place remains in use, and good work goes on in the rooms behind it, at Carecent.

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I took the photo above in May this year when, as can be seen from the sign, the building was for sale after the fire station moved elsewhere. It’s currently under offer. It’s not a listed building, and presumably after decades of use as a fire station there’s not much ‘chapel’ left in there. It could be demolished entirely I guess. Though they might keep the frontage on Peckitt Street.

That side of the building has some nice details:

And its date, 1856, under the initials A.B:

A photo from the city archives shows the side of the building in the early years of the 20th century, when it was clearly serving as a support for advertising hoardings.

© City of York Council

It will be interesting to see what replaces the former Trinity Chapel/fire station, on this prime city centre site. While we’re waiting to find out, let’s wander past a couple more old chapels and see how they’re faring.

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Like the one on the Corner House pub, not far away, though in that case it was on behalf of Tesco. That one raised no objections, apparently, and the pub has closed and Tesco will be setting up shop.

I’m not going to object, personally, to this application by Sainsbury’s regarding Groves Chapel, but judging by the number of signatures on the petition against this others might want to.

This is on my patch, and I know the building and its immediate environment very well. I’ve taken a few photos in recent days which I hope to share on here soon. For now, here’s just one, from Union Terrace (what’s left of it), with Groves Chapel on the left.

The road bends round back towards Clarence Street, joining that busy junction where Clarence Street meets Wigginton Road and Haxby Road and Lowther Street. And just across the junction, visible from here, that pale building on the corner directly across from here: the Punch Bowl pub. Targeted by Tesco, apparently. Which, in my opinion, is of just as much importance. On the left, a redundant chapel the majority of us have had no access to for decades. Across the road, a building used by, and important to, many local residents.

More later.

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