Streets in the sky … the Sheffield high-rises that were home sweet..

"Love Among the Ruins: A Romance of the Near Future presents the work of two social documentary photographers Roger Mayne (1929 – 2014) and Bill Stephenson (b. 1955), who documented the first residents of Park Hill from 1961-65 and the last remaining residents of Park Hill’s sister building Hyde Park in 1988..."press release. Exhibition at S1 Artspace, 1 Norwich Street, Park Hill.

Guardian article

This photo from the Guardian article is fantastic. I've never seen it before, or another image of the area from that time with such clear detail.

The old school before Park Hill Infant and Junior was built; the Salvation Army building under construction; the old buildings on the site of the Trades & Labour Club and the doctors' surgery; buildings on both sides of Bernard Street, right in front of Hyde Park Terrace; a view into town and Pond Street that's almost unrecognisable even from the Sheffield of the 70s and 80s; and Park Hill flats looking so clean and new in the centre. Wonderful.

I'm trying to see if I can dig back through the memories and remember when the Trades & Labour club and the doctors' surgery were built. I just about remember both sites being waste ground, so it must have been late 70s or early 80s. The club was built after the surgery, so I'll bet on 1979 or 1980 for the surgery and 1981 for the club.

The new Park Hill School was open in at least 1975; that must have gone up in the late 60s or early 70s. I wonder how long that Victorian building served the children of Park Hill.

I'm trying to see if I can dig back through the memories and remember when the Trades & Labour club and the doctors' surgery were built. I just about remember both sites being waste ground, so it must have been late 70s or early 80s. The club was built after the surgery, so I'll bet on 1979 or 1980 for the surgery and 1981 for the club.

 

The new Park Hill School was open in at least 1975; that must have gone up in the late 60s or early 70s. I wonder how long that Victorian building served the children of Park Hill.

This is from Picture Sheffield:

http://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;s32147&pos=1&action=zoom&id=104719

http://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;s32148&pos=2&action=zoom&id=104720

Regards,

Duffems

trades club there used to be two pubs top corner the talbot other oddfellows and on third corner swallows shop whith houses inbetween

The Streets in the sky were a brilliant architectural idea forged in house by the Council's own team.

The Streets connected all the way into the Markets and then into the rest of the City center .

What is left of that plan has now been given away to private speculators ,which now means that the original plans of a social housing plan has been abandoned so as those that can afford to purchase the flats have the best location near the Town center.

The links by pathway have been severed ,the Markets flattened leaving a dead and lifeless wilderness.

The grand planning undertook by all departments of the Council inc the actual construction lies in ruins ,destroyed by who ever came in to caste an unseeing eye over our Grand old Town.

An article in the Yorkshire Post states that the first spade was dug into the Trades & Labour Club site in June 1980, so a 1981 opening seems about right.

A photograph on Picture Sheffield dated 16/2/67 shows the old school being demolished, and another dated 1969 shows the new Park Hill School up and running.

---------- Post added 21-07-2018 at 09:44 ----------

This photograph is fascinating. The view along Talbot Street in the 50s, past the (just about standing now New Inn) to where Hyde Park Terrace was built. Look at that slope!

Then in 1966 you can see Hyde Park Terrace in the background as the Norfolk Picture Palace is demolished.

And in this photograph and this photograph, you see a glimpse of the pub building on the site of the Trades & Labour Club. The date of the last one is a bit off; the cinema is gone, which dates it to post-1966, not 1963).

The old park school was a senior school for a time and they then moved them to Norfolk school and Hurlfield.