The Old House on Devonshire St.

[Bertielil]

Can anyone tell me what The Old House on Devonshire Street was in a previous life? Thank you.

[DUFFEMS]

Can anyone tell me what The Old House on Devonshire Street was in a previous life? Thank you.

 

There's an Old Crow Tree House junction of Devonshire Street and Broomhall Street on "picture Sheffield"

[hillsbro]

Hi Bertielil - I guess you mean this Old House? .It was previously known as Devonshire House, and to judge from census returns the building seems to date from the latter part of the 19th century. The 1861 census return shows three small properties at 113 to 117 Devonshire Street, while in the 1871 and later census returns nobody lived there. This might suggest that Devonshire House was built, some time after 1861, as commercial premises (therefore nobody to list for the census) on the site of the three older houses. Although the old houses were evidently demolished between 1861 and 1871, Devonshire House might have been built later, with the site being vacant for some time, but the 1901 directory shows the business of "Thomas G. Woof, cabinet maker" there. By the 1920s the firm had diversified as "cabinet makers, upholsterers & decorators, house furnishers, furniture removers. bank, shop, hotel, bar & office fitters & showcase makers" (1925 Kelly's Directory). Thomas Green Woof was already employing several people at the time of the 1881 census, and so Devonshire House might originally have been built for his business. He lived on Fulwood Road before retiring to his native Lancashire, and he died in 1923. However, the business he founded remained at Devonshire House until around 1970, and this 1957 photo on the picturesheffield.co.uk site shows T.G. Woof's cabinet making and house furnishings business there. The 1972 directory shows a plumber's merchants in the building.

Edited June 22, 2011 by hillsbro

[Bertielil]

Thanks so much hillsboro, that's an excellent reply.

[hillsbro]

Thanks so much hillsboro, that's an excellent reply.

Happy to help - I quite like this sort of research and we've both learned a little about the history of the building, as well as any Forummers who also read the thread. Here is a 1991 photo showing the building when it was Arnold Carters plumber's merchants. More recently it was the Halcyon Bar.

 

I must treat Mrs hillsbro to a nice meal at The Old House, next time we're in Sheffield..

Edited June 22, 2011 by hillsbro

[willybite]

Hi Bertielil - I guess you mean this Old House? .It was previously known as Devonshire House, and to judge from census returns the building seems to date from around 1870, or slightly earlier. At least, the 1861 census return shows three small properties at 113 to 117 Devonshire Street, while in the 1871 and later census returns nobody lived there. This might suggest that Devonshire House was built, some time after 1861, as commercial premises (therefore nobody to list for the census) on the site of the three older houses. The 1901 directory shows the business of "Thomas G. Woof, cabinet maker" there. By the 1920s the firm had diversified as "cabinet makers, upholsterers & decorators, house furnishers, furniture removers. bank, shop, hotel, bar & office fitters & showcase makers" (1925 Kelly's Directory). Thomas Green Woof was already employing several people at the time of the 1881 census, and so Devonshire House might originally have been built for his business. He lived on Fulwood Road before retiring to his native Lancashire, and he died in 1923. However, the business he founded remained at Devonshire House until around 1970, and this 1957 photo on the picturesheffield.co.uk site shows T.G. Woof's cabinet making and house furnishings business there. The 1972 directory shows a plumber's merchants in the building.[/QUOT

 

 

hiya, i remember the Thomas.G woofs shop from the 1940s an1950s and it was in the same place as in the 1895 directory, 113/117 devonshire st it was in the middle of a row of shops on the right hand side looking towards barkers pool, there was nothing special about it as of the others in the block, it ran from eldon st to trafalgar st. as for the house that was looked for be on the corner of devonshire and broomhall streets there was a public hospital for skin diseases, and south yorkshire ear and throat hospital, the only other one was the calvary hall in my time i remember. woofs had a shop on london rd by the side of the cremorne pub just off london rd in my day too.

Edited June 22, 2011 by willybite

[hillsbro]

Hi willybite - I also have a faint recollection of Thomas G. Woof's shop (in the 1960s I used to see it from the No 55 [Crosspool] bus coming home from King Ted's) and I do remember the plumbers merchants. Mitchells locksmiths was somewhere nearby, on the same side of Devonshire Street, after they moved from West Street.

 

If Thomas Woof's business is shown at Devonshire House in the 1895 directory, then this fixes the date of construction of the building as some time between the 1860s and 1895. Possibly before 1881, as Thomas Woof clearly headed quite a sizeable firm at the time of the census in that year - he is described as the employer of "6 men, 4 boys, 3 women and 2 girls". But it seems he had a partner - a quick web search brought up a page from the "London Gazette" of 1888 indicating that Thomas G. Woof had previously been in partnership with Ronald G. Whitaker, but that this partnership was dissolved "by mutual content" on August 4th that year. So Thomas Woof decided to "go it alone" in 1888. A bit more 'Googling' brought up some pages that mention furniture made by T.G. Woof, such as this music cabinet, and these two chairs that ELR offered. No doubt the gentry of Sheffield were good customers of Woof's a century and more ago. The firm evidently "moved with the times" as they were sitll there in the late 1960s, but then went into liquidation.

 

Here is a T.G. Woof advert. from the 1968 Kelly's Directory.

[willybite]

Hi willybite - I also have a faint recollection of Thomas G. Woof's shop (in the 1960s I used to see it from the No 55 [Crosspool] bus coming home from King Ted's) and I do remember the plumbers merchants. Mitchells locksmiths was somewhere nearby, on the same side of Devonshire Street, after they moved from West Street.

 

If Thomas Woof's business is shown at Devonshire House in the 1895 directory, then this fixes the date of construction of the building as some time between the 1860s and 1895. Possibly before 1881, as Thomas Woof clearly headed quite a sizeable firm at the time of the census in that year - he is described as the employer of "6 men, 4 boys, 3 women and 2 girls". But it seems he had a partner - a quick web search brought up a page from the "London Gazette" of 1888 indicating that Thomas G. Woof had previously been in partnership with Ronald G. Whitaker, but that this partnership was dissolved "by mutual content" on August 4th that year. So Thomas Woof decided to "go it alone" in 1888. A bit more 'Googling' brought up some pages that mention furniture made by T.G. Woof, such as this music cabinet, and these two chairs that ELR offered. No doubt the gentry of Sheffield were good customers of Woof's a century and more ago. The firm evidently "moved with the times" as they were sitll there in the late 1960s, but then went into liquidation.

 

Here is a T.G. Woof advert. from the 1968 Kelly's Directory.

 

hiya me again thomas g woof did live on fulwood rd and as you say about the gentry at the time,the names of his close neighbours in 1895 were the laycock c.a at 393 and the laycock ws at oakbrook,marples wine and spirit merchant,colver steel manufacturer mappin frank .firth edward steel manufacturer.

 

p.s when i was growing up in the 40s and 50s around the fitzwilliam st area there were only two or three new buildings around all were what would be called old to me, as for devonshire house i never heard that one.

Edited June 23, 2011 by willybite

[willybite]

Hi willybite - I also have a faint recollection of Thomas G. Woof's shop (in the 1960s I used to see it from the No 55 [Crosspool] bus coming home from King Ted's) and I do remember the plumbers merchants. Mitchells locksmiths was somewhere nearby, on the same side of Devonshire Street, after they moved from West Street.

 

If Thomas Woof's business is shown at Devonshire House in the 1895 directory, then this fixes the date of construction of the building as some time between the 1860s and 1895. Possibly before 1881, as Thomas Woof clearly headed quite a sizeable firm at the time of the census in that year - he is described as the employer of "6 men, 4 boys, 3 women and 2 girls". But it seems he had a partner - a quick web search brought up a page from the "London Gazette" of 1888 indicating that Thomas G. Woof had previously been in partnership with Ronald G. Whitaker, but that this partnership was dissolved "by mutual content" on August 4th that year. So Thomas Woof decided to "go it alone" in 1888. A bit more 'Googling' brought up some pages that mention furniture made by T.G. Woof, such as this music cabinet, and these two chairs that ELR offered. No doubt the gentry of Sheffield were good customers of Woof's a century and more ago. The firm evidently "moved with the times" as they were sitll there in the late 1960s, but then went into liquidation.

 

Here is a T.G. Woof advert. from the 1968 Kelly's Directory.

 

hiya me again thomas g woof did live on fulwood rd 307 and as you say about the gentry at the time,the names of his close neighbours in 1895 were the laycock c.a at 393 and the laycock ws at oakbrook,marples wine and spirit merchant,colver steel manufacturer mappin frank .firth edward steel manufacturer.and a few more

ps in my book thomas woof was listed not for his furniture but as a cabinet maker.

Edited June 22, 2011 by willybite

[hillsbro]

....in my book thomas woof was listed not for his furniture but as a cabinet maker.

Yes, he seems to have been first and foremost a cabinet maker, and this is how he appears in trade directories and census returns, but he must have employed furniture makers with various different skills, and later diversified into house furnishings etc. Curiously, in the 1871 census Thomas is shown, aged 29, as a "Manager at Drapery Establishment" in Chorlton, Lancs. He was already widowed at that time - he had married Maria Bennet in 1868 but she died a year later, aged only 27. Thomas married the Suffolk-born Sarah Anne Colson in 1874.

 

Thomas evidently inherited his father's business ability, as in the 1851 census his father Jacob is shown as a "joiner and master builder employing 2 men".