Demolition of Burnholme Club

In January, demolition work began on this ‘fantasy villa’, aka Burnholme Club. We already knew this was going to happen, but I was still really shocked to see this photo.

Demolition of former Burnholme Social Club begins http://t.co/qaPn1CJece pic.twitter.com/oEk3XER4Jj

— The Press (@yorkpress) January 28, 2015

Looks wrong, doesn’t it. Like something from the 1960s.

Over the course of the last decade or so I’ve seen other buildings demolished, and some buildings saved and remodelled for new uses. It’s always nice to see buildings reused, and generally in the 21st century it seems we try hard to do that, where possible. So what went wrong here?

This landmark building, confident and handsome, with prettier details, could have been a desirable residence, if turned into flats.

Not economically viable, apparently. But still really very shocking to see it destroyed in this way. Really is like going back to the 1960s, and not in a good way.

See earlier pages on Burnholme Club for more background information.

Reynard’s garage/former Airspeed factory

This is really interesting. I’ve been banging on about this building for years, and I know I’m not the only one, and that many other people find it of interest and think that it should be preserved. The council, who own it, had apparently sold it, which, the available information suggested, meant it would be demolished and a hotel built on the site.

But no … I was rather pleased to read in the Press recently that all that had fallen through/been abandoned.

Why? Could it be that those with the power to affect such things realised it doesn’t look good demolishing interesting buildings, local heritage assets?

Perhaps there was some shame and embarrassment that the demolition of the Burnholme Club building was waved through with so little fight to save it.

Perhaps the new leader of the council read Nevil Shute’s autobiography Slide Rule and realised that this building is really very interesting and worth preserving.

Who knows. But there are now ‘new plans being drawn up’, according to the Press.

Do these involve the Yorkshire Air Museum? That would make sense.

Interest in 20th century history and industrial heritage is growing all the time. As is our awareness of place and local heritage. And the Yorkshire Air Museum wants to create a visitor attraction in the Reynard’s/Airspeed building, based in a particular place where at a particular point in the 20th century a particularly interesting venture got off the ground.

It’s kind of obvious what should happen, isn’t it.

Or if not that, how about today’s young entrepreneurs occupying it, instead of the Guildhall buildings, as that idea doesn’t appear to have massive popular support?

Background: all pages on this site on the Airspeed/Reynard’s building

Former White Swan Hotel, Piccadilly: looking good

Ah, the White Swan. I’ve never been inside the place, but feel as if I have, having read so much about it, written so much about it, over so many years.

I had a wander past a month or so ago, and it was quite remarkable, the transformation.

I love to see what people who know what they’re doing can do with old buildings seen as ‘eyesores’. This building, because of its prettiness and its copying of older styles, was seen as something worth preserving and renovating, despite its shabby appearance from decades of emptiness. It’s so good to see it rescued from its sad and useless boarded-up state, after so long.

See earlier pages on the White Swan, Piccadilly for more background.

Meanwhile, over in Holgate …

Perhaps the rather less pretty but particularly interesting Reynard’s/Airspeed building will also be rescued and remodelled for a new use after years of dereliction. And meanwhile, over in Holgate, I’m hoping that this significant reminder of our industrial and cultural heritage hasn’t yet gone the way of the Burnholme Club building, but I guess it won’t be long before we see photos of it being smashed to bits.

Carriageworks canteen, Holgate Rd, 27 July 2014

Not widely appreciated, generally forgotten, but the character area statement for this area — part of the Historic Environment Characterisation Project — recognises the significance of this former canteen, once part of the entrance to a busy workplace, and an important part of York’s story for many York residents:

The carriage works still function for the repair and maintenance of railway equipment and represent a significant survival of railway structures. The canteen buildings (1888) at these works have been nominated for inclusion on the Local List of Heritage Assets as the last remaining social building in the carriage works complex. Some buildings have unfortunately been recently demolished by Network Rail for health and safety reasons.

… Those buildings that have been recommended for inclusion on the Local List of Heritage Assets add significant value to the character of this area. The majority are intimately connected with the railway. Every effort should be made to ensure that these buildings are retained and kept in productive use. Their loss or inappropriate alteration would have significant impacts on the character of this area. Remaining historic railway and industrial structures should wherever possible be retained and sympathetically converted to practical uses. Many could be successfully integrated into modern development.

Source: PDF download from this page on the council website

Will York ever find a way to respect and preserve this building, as it found a way to preserve the White Swan on Piccadilly and may yet find a way into the future for the Airspeed factory? It is 2015 after all, it’s not the 1960s, we’re wiser now about ‘heritage’ in all its forms.

For more on the meaning and significance of the carriageworks canteen, see the other pages on this website.

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The way we were: York Walks, summer 2004, at www.yorkstories.co.uk

Back in 2004, in the ‘York Walks’ which formed the original version of this website, I put together a page with the title ‘Watch this space‘. It included several buildings widely condemned as ‘eyesores’ in the intervening years.

If you were indeed watching those places and spaces you’ll be aware that it took a long time, but that four of the six buildings featured are either back in use or on their way to being occupied.

Firstly, Shipton Street School, its main frontage on Shipton Street. Many years ago I also took a lot of photos of the other side of it, from the playground area. I have an update on those too, but for now, this was the face it presented to the street for a decade or so.

And now, in 2014:

Another wider view, also from Shipton Street, in 2004:

And in 2014:

The most obvious difference between the 2004 and 2014 views is the number of parked cars. There are several possible reasons for this, not necessarily to do with the Shipton St School development, though it may be. Perhaps someone who lives on or near Shipton St can add a resident’s perspective in the comments.

Less obvious, not obvious at all unless you happened to walk by when the windows weren’t boarded up, but the conversion to residential did change and perhaps spoil the windows. Inevitable. I might have some photos somewhere but they were that lovely old wobbly glass with interesting reflections, and no doubt on the inside the teacher had to use some kind of long pole with a hook on the end to open and close them. Or perhaps I’m having a memory resurface there from Mill Mount School. Anyway, the old school windows are gone, which is a shame. On the other hand, these windows are letting in light for the first time for a decade or more and the building is back in use.

Shipton St School is out in the suburbs so didn’t get that much attention. The Bonding Warehouse, on the other hand, is well-known. I’ve covered it in depth already on many pages over the last ten years, but I haven’t yet featured its completed bridge on the street side. Thanks to Gwen Swinburn for alerting me to this change.

Bonding Warehouse, Skeldergate side, in August 2004:

And from more or less the same vantage point now, 2014:

With very prominent and very ugly signs. The signs are apparently necessary to indicate the height of the bridge. The bridge was constructed to allow the residents of the upper floors to access their accommodation. I’d got the impression that they were to have some kind of temporary emergency bridge in case of floods, like the other residents of Skeldergate do, but clearly not.

The bridge itself is okay, its associated signs are … well, an eyesore. A word I avoid using as it tends to be indiscriminately and thoughtlessly applied to any empty boarded-up building. But here it seems appropriate.

Not that it really matters. They’re just really intrusive signs, and the city is full of them. At least those ridiculous Lendal Bridge ones have been removed.

Moving on to the city’s most famous eyesore … in 2004:

Like the Bonding Warehouse, this building has been the subject of several pages. Like the Bonding it was reoccupied eventually, or is in the process of being. Work continues on its conversion to residential and retail. The scaffolding was removed recently and here’s how it looked:

… not much different from before. Which was exactly what we the public wanted, when consulted. So that’s good, isn’t it.

. . . . . .

So, three substantial buildings sitting there boarded-up 10 years ago are now back in use or on their way to being so. Two are listed buildings so we had to keep them. The White Swan isn’t but it’s a pretty mock Tudor thing where it meets the street, and we wouldn’t make anything better than that now probably, so it’s sensible choosing to keep it.

There are still boarded-up buildings surviving, but only a couple of substantial ones I can think of. More on them and other things later, if someone wants to sponsor more hours of writing and compiling.

The other buildings featured on ‘Watch this space’ ten years ago were 1) Burton Croft, included on a recent page; 2) the Clifton hospital laundry (demolished) and 3) the St Clement’s church hall and associated house. They’re the subject of the next page.

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Charabanc outing, outside the White Swan Piccadilly. (c) City of York Council (York Images)

I’ve also recently chanced upon an image from the city archives taken outside the White Swan, around a hundred years ago. In the background is the same stretch of its Piccadilly frontage where the ‘relics‘ are displayed. Back then it was quite new and hadn’t yet had modern shopfronts inserted (the present White Swan dates from 1912, and replaced an earlier White Swan Hotel).

The people pictured here appear to be going on an outing, in a charabanc. Basically an early bus. This one’s quite a posh charabanc, motorised. It looks like it has the numberplate ‘DN 1′,  which I always understood was the Lord Mayor’s vehicle – in more recent times at least. (If you know more about this photo or the vehicle in it, please add a comment.)

In my own family history archives I also have a couple of images which appear to have been taken at the beginning of a charabanc outing, at around the same time. But in Hull, and we were poor, and our charabanc was horse-drawn.

Charabanc outing, from Hull

The girl third on the right is my maternal grandmother, Doris.

Do hop on the charabanc and join us. There’s the posh motorised York charabanc and the working class Hull charabanc, pick whichever one suits best. I’m going for the one with a horse, without flags. I’m not quite sure where we’re going next. They don’t look comfortable so short journeys are probably preferable.

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‘Relic’ from the White Swan redevelopment: 1976 copy of The Sun

I guessed that these were things the builders have found inside as the White Swan is gutted and remodelled.

The reflections in the glass made it difficult to get clear images, but the display included a page from The Sun, from 1976, with a groovy old ad for Dixons. Reminders of mid-70s technology, like cassette players in cars.

In those days you still had to endure the physical effort of getting up from the sofa to push buttons on the TV itself to change channels. That’s why we were all so fit back in the 70s. But this advertised TV offered the alluring prospect of ‘pre-set push button channel selection’.

‘Relic’ from the White Swan redevelopment: 1976 copy of The Sun, Dixons ad

‘Relics’ from the White Swan redevelopment: cigarette packets (1960s?)

A little older I think, several cigarette packets: Park Drive, Gold Flake and State Express.

There was no explanatory caption to this, I just guessed they’d been found inside. I’ve got a box full of ‘relics’ discovered during work on this house – sections of old wallpaper uncovered and kept, and bits of clay pipe and old floor tile dug up in the garden.

Thought it was rather nice that someone had gone to the trouble of displaying these.

‘Relics’ from the White Swan redevelopment: cigarette cards

Cigarette cards, which were, apparently, used to stiffen cigarette packets and advertise cigarette brands.

I asked one of the men in hard hats about the display. He said these items were found under the floor. This seemed reasonable at the time, a bit odd when I thought about it later, until I remembered how much rubbish I noticed under our floorboards when they were lifted for plumbing and central heating work.

Anyway, nice to see these things on display. If they were under the floorboards then presumably they’re relics left by previous generations of builders and plumbers doing work on the building. If discovered above floorboard level then they’re reminders of this building’s days as a hotel and restaurant and bars.

The man in the hard hat knew too about the White Swan’s brief opening up as the Rainbow Peace Hotel. Even though the ceilings are missing and it’s still a dark gloomy shell when you look inside from the Piccadilly doors, the graffiti is still there, bright paint on the pillars.

All part of our recent history. Just as interesting, to many of us, as our famous ancient history.

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In August 2004. Decorated windows from the ‘Rainbow Peace Hotel’ occupation in 2003

Wow. Fantastic. I feel like the heading to this page should be in big shouty capital letters and perhaps accompanied by a trumpet fanfare.

York’s most famous and long-standing eyesore is being redeveloped. No, really. It really is this time. There’s a door open, and workmen inside, and they’re not just there to repair a floorboard and go away again.

A skip on the pavement outside is filling with 1980s hotel decor.

Glimpse inside the White Swan, as redevelopment work begins

A door opens on the White Swan

When I passed the street was busy with shoppers and men in high-vis jackets and I knew I couldn’t loiter with a camera without getting in everyone’s way. I just took this one photo. We’re so used to this place being boarded up, it really was a startling sight. An open door onto Piccadilly, showing a glimpse of graffiti and a generally gloomy interior.

The most startling thing was the smell. Fusty doesn’t quite capture it. Not sure I can do it justice in words. Think old village church, overlaid with damp cellar, compost heap, and a hint of wet rot.

Graffiti inside the White Swan

Along with the smell I noticed this flower painted on a pillar. A flower isn’t the kind of graffiti you normally find in abandoned buildings so I’m guessing this dates from the Rainbow Peace Hotel occupation of the building, ten years ago.

Apart from that brief occupation the hotel part has been empty for decades.

An earlier page on the White Swan Hotel (2011), is one of the most visited pages on this website. There’s always been a lot of interest in the building.

Have a look at the links towards the end of that older page, to the many stories in The Press. It becomes clear from that how many false starts there have been, how many times the local paper said redevelopment might be imminent.

Fifteen years ago it really looked like something might be happening. But it didn’t. And over and over and over.

Now it is happening. Hurrah.

So please can we be pleased?

When I wrote that page I wondered, if people were wealthy enough to have a spare building they couldn’t find a use for, might they not have some kind of social conscience about it, when so many people are homeless?

It appears the owners have since done their best to do the right thing, and it’s been quite cheering to see how it’s all turned out. I went to the display about plans for the building last summer. Not many people did, which seems a shame considering the efforts made to make it all clear and have people on hand to welcome and explain.

Originally the owners were going to demolish and rebuild, but the people of York objected. So they’re refurbishing instead, having taken notice of public opinion.

So what is there left to moan about. Oh yes, there’s going to be a Sainsbury’s on the ground floor. So people have objected to that.

What do we want, the moon on a stick?

I welcome this building’s reuse, and if it needs a big name on the ground floor to make the scheme viable then so be it. It’s a hundred years since it was built here. I bet it looked handsome when new, and it’s good to know its handsomeness will be restored.

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A planning application has been submitted for the conversion of the upper floors to residential accommodation, with retail space below. If you’re thinking this sounds familiar, it is. There was a planning application in autumn last year, which was approved. This one doesn’t seem much different, though the number of apartments has increased slightly and includes some affordable housing provision.

I know some people aren’t welcoming the idea of another Sainsbury’s Local. Just down the road one way is a Tesco Express, down the road and round a corner or two is another Tesco Express, and a Morrison’s is going to open on Spurriergate, near that Tesco Express. There is I believe another Sainsbury’s Local due to open at the bottom of Micklegate. I won’t go on as it would take forever …

But let’s look on the positive side. I feel the need to, after the recent news on the Burnholme club building.

A quick recap:

— The White Swan hotel, with its many rooms, has been unused since 1982. Yes, since 1982.

— For years and years people moaned about it being ‘an eyesore’ (covered at length a couple of years ago on this page).

— When the owners first suggested redevelopment of the site, with a complete rebuild, people complained about the loss of this handsome building.

— So they then drew up plans which retained the exterior we’re so fond of, and put them on show to the public, with what looked to me like genuine concern for the views of local residents.

— As part of the planning application the owners commissioned a detailed historic building report (PDF). If only all documents produced to support planning applications were so carefully and thoughtfully produced.

— They’ve now had to make a few minor changes to the plans, and it looks like an occupant has been found for the ground floor. A successful and well-known name, unlikely to go out of business.

So, people will be living here, in the centre of York, in a handsome building we can all continue to admire, and the shop underneath will sell things we actually need, like food.

Great. Please can we all be happy. A reminder again, it’s 30 years since the top floors of this building were in use. Back then, in 1982, the guests in the hotel might have been listening to The Goombay Dance Band or Dexys.
So come on, be happy. Get your dungarees on and let’s have a dance (1982 style):

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