School building, Askern, Doncaster
Application to demolish a school building:
The original application to replace this school building with 6 dwellings was approved back in 2019, however it looks like the building has yet to be razed. An application to modify the original proposal has come in, so thought it would be worth covering on the Demolition Register.
A classic red brick school built between 1893 and 1906 that would have made a great residential conversion. I’m always amazed at the ornamentation that the architect would justify during the commissioning of Victorian/Edwardian schools, when working to a strict education board budget. Clearly the stone corbels and looping ridge tiles were worth the investment, if only for the pride they would instill in the children who went there each day.
The Travellers Inn, Attercliffe, Sheffield
Unique pub in Sheffield torn down:
This pub, which dates back to around 1780 (although the existing building looks much more recent) has been empty now for 10 years, and internally has been destroyed by vandals.
Sadly, this industrial corridor of Sheffield has lost many of the dozens of pubs that would refresh the working class daytime population.
The frontage, part arts and crafts, part art deco, baffles me. I have not seen a pub look like this before. Yet it is not the architectural merit that makes its loss lamentable. As ever, the loss of a pub symbolises our decreasing demand for the company of other people.
End terrace cottage, Meltham
Notice of demolition of a small end terrace dwellingin Meltham, Huddersfield:
Not sure why the owner is wanting to destroy this building in a conservation area. The planning statement suggests they will use the space as a garden, but I’m not convinced. The applicant also acknowledges that the removal of the building will leave an unweathered gable end that will require work. This alone would be enough to despoil the conservation area, which is otherwise a pristine townscape of Victorian stone built stock – I’m surprised this street isn’t used for filming.
The neighbouring terrace is grade 2 listed. Hopefully the planning officer has the fore site to see the harm this would do to the setting of this protected building.
ARLFC Club, Drighlington
Application for the demolition of a former pub, and replacement with 5 dwellings in Leeds:
The Village of Adwalton, contiguous with Drighlington was once home to 5 pubs and a club. One pub, the New Inn, now remains, with the Rugby Clubhouse pictured above no longer in use. This is a very sad statistic. The population has bloated in the villages, yet public life has diminished.
This site is described by the architects as being ‘semi-derelict hardstanding’. Otherise known as a pub carpark. No mention is made of the cluster of Victorian stone buildings that make up this modest yet charming pub. Furthmore, this site is on top of a hill, and is visible from miles around. This building should be considered as part of a wider heritage landscape between Leeds and Bradford that is being slowly denuded of character.
As with most of these pub car park developments, the loss of the building is unessessary, and tantamount to laziness on the part of the developer. A good architect could integrate the pub into a commercially feasible development, perhaps even extending and enhancing the building line seen above, to improve the cohesive geometry of the village centre.
That is what builders used to do for hundreds of years. Development was an opportunity to make places.
The Demolition Register 