Friday, October 17, 2008

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

The Cheltenham Festival of Literature is in full swing at the moment, so I thought it might be interesting, in between listening to what the writers have to tell us, to listen to what some of Cheltenham’s buildings have to say. I could, of course, go on at length about the town’s Regency architecture – and very beautiful its stuccoed terraces look between the autumn trees – but everyone does that, so I’ve plumped for a different approach: to look at one minor street in the town centre and see what catches my eye.

So here are some buildings in Winchcombe Street, which contains a few Regency houses, some modern sheltered flats, some shops, and several hairdressing salons. One of the latter occupies the former premises of W. W. Dowty’s Photographic Studio. They’ve kept the original sign on the fascia, and there’s a door with a tall oval pane and glazed spandrels with bevelled glass. I’m not sure of the date: perhaps some time between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the second. At the other end of the street, another hairdresser occupies a shop that must have once housed purveyors of fish and game, narrow panels of Edwardian or Victorian tiles illustrating the goods within. Tiles like these are a telling reminder that the town once had several fishmongers, whereas now people have to go to a supermarket to find someone who will mong them some fish. Meanwhile, these tiles remain, a source of historical evidence and visual pleasure.As is Cheltenham’s former Odeon cinema. This finally closed when another chain opened a multiplex in the town. It’s an undistinguished Art Deco building, with the redeeming feature of these two naked women tangled in celluloid high up on the façade. Most passers-by see only the boarded-up entrance of the cinema, steadily becoming more and more of a blot on the townscape. I’d lay odds that most of them never notice the silver ladies, two of several reminders of the unregarded past of a quiet Cheltenham side-street.

7 comments:

  1. These are terrific. Looking at them I hear lost voices coming back over the years- "Don't forget to get your hair cut, we're booked in at Dowty's for three o'clock" and the noises- wet fish being slapped down on white tiles, Pearl & Dean's signature tune at the Odeon.

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  2. Indeed. It's good to see that Dowty's and the fishmonger have found new owners who have retained the original features. But I fear for the cinema. In spite of the fact that its interior, if the modern partitions were removed, would be a big and I think usable space, it does not seem to have found anyone to take it over – and its chances look poor in this economic climate. A church was looking at the building but pulled out. I don't suppose they'd have much liked the naked ladies.

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  3. Fab. Cheltenham...so much more than a race venue :)

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  4. A lovely reminder that even apparently ordinary streets can have features worth noticing.

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  5. Yes, Vinogirl, Cheltenham has a lot to offer (parks, gardens, Regency houses, festivals of the arts and sciences...). I expect I'll return to the subject some day and blog abut some of its elegant Regency architecture, or indeed its Victorian buildings, which are less well known.

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  6. W Dowty also had a portrait studio in Pershore, Worcs and I wondered if anyone knew if that was before or after he opened his studio in Winchcombe Street, Cheltenham? I have a cabinet print with W Dowty High Street Pershore' but don't seem to be able to attach it to this thread!

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  7. Thanks for your comment, Cotswold Lad. It's fascinating that there was also a Dowty's in Pershore - particularly because the industrialist, engineer and inventor Sir George Dowty was born in Pershore. The proprietor of the portrait studios was very likely a member of the same family. As you may well know, Sir George Dowty's company was once pre-eminent in hydraulics, pioneering hydraulic pit props for mines and working in other areas, especially aviation. Part of the company survives at one of Dowty's original sites between Cheltenham and Gloucester - it's known as Messier-Bugatti-Dowty now. Interestingly, George Dowty lost the sight in one eye when as a boy he was experimenting with chemicals. Some sources say these were photographic chemicals.

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