Former Bus Garage, 270-276 Huntingdon Street, Nottingham

Historic England Advice Report 15 August 2019 Case Name: Former Bus Garage, 270-276 Huntingdon Street, Nottingham

Case Number: 1466425

Background Historic England has been asked to assess the former bus garage, currently referred to as 'car works' at Nos 270-276 Huntingdon Street, Nottingham, for listing. The building is proposed for imminent demolition.

Asset(s) under Assessment Facts about the asset(s) can be found in the Annex(es) to this report.

Annex List Entry Number Name Heritage Category HE Recommendation 1 1466428 Former bus garage, Listing Add to List 270-276 Huntingdon Road

Visits None: Data from other sources. Context The former bus garage on Huntingdon Road, Nottingham is currently empty and the City Council has received a notice of demolition which is due to expire on the 20th August 2019. The building is clearly at risk from imminent demolition.

Assessment CONSULTATION

Given the imminent threat of demolition to the building, it has been considered inappropriate to consult on this case in this instance.

DISCUSSION

Buildings on the List are graded to reflect their relative architectural and historic interest. Grade II buildings are of special interest, Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest, and Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest.

The statutory criteria for listing are the special architectural or historic interest of a building, as set out in the Principles of Selection for Listing Buildings (DCMS, November 2018). To be of special architectural interest a building must be of importance in its architectural design, decoration or craftsmanship; and to be of special historic interest a building must illustrate important aspects of the nation’s social, economic, cultural, or military history. There should normally be some quality of interest in the physical fabric of the building itself to justify the statutory protection afforded by listing. Before 1700, all buildings that contain a significant proportion of their original fabric are listed; from 1700 to 1850, most buildings are listed; after 1850 progressively greater selection is necessary.

Historic England provides further guidance in published Listing Selection Guides. The relevant guide in this instance, (Infrastructure: Transport, Historic England, December 2017) states that architectural quality, the degree of survival and structural interest are key considerations when assessing transport buildings and

Page 1 of 7 Historic England Advice Report 15 August 2019 structures for listing. The guidance describes the principal design characteristics of bus garages thus: 'purpose-built bus garages or depots usually combined offices and a covered parking area, the latter usually top lit and spanned by steel-framed roofs without intermediate supports to facilitate vehicle movement and storage.'

The Huntingdon Street bus garage survives as a notable example of its type, commissioned by the Barton Transport bus company, which became one of the largest independent bus transport companies in England with a route network throughout the East Midlands region. The inter-war period saw an unprecedented growth in road traffic as the national road network was expanded and remodelled, changes which were clearly expressed in Nottingham, with development of a new inner ring road taking traffic to the city centre. The new bus garage was sited on Huntingdon Street, a newly-developed northern arterial road, on land close to a new bus station and a retail market.

The building's design, with its distinctive faience-clad 'Moderne' frontage and curved profile is reminiscent of other inter-war transport buildings, particularly the new airport architecture of the period, and signalled the intention of creating a building to be seen and admired, rather than just a functional storage shed for motor vehicles. This type of design was not widely used for bus garages, and few other examples of its type are known to survive. The building appears to retain most aspects of its original design, with the now modified office and ticketing facilities designed for the two-storey frontage range, and the open plan garage interior, set below a complex lightweight steel-framed roof structure designed to resist both compression and tension stresses whilst supporting the very long spans required for the garage area.

The building has undergone some changes since the cessation of use as a bus garage, but these are considered not to have significantly diminished its architectural or constructional quality, with distinctive appearance and massing, well-preserved decorative faience work, original metal window frames and a carefully-engineered roof structure amongst its most significant attributes, all of which enhance the claim to special interest in a national context.

In recommending the extent of designation, we have considered whether powers of exclusion under s1 (5A) of the 1990 Act are appropriate, and consider that they are not.

CONCLUSION

After examining the available records and other relevant information and having carefully considered the architectural and historic interest of this case, the criteria for listing are considered to be fulfilled. Therefore, the former bus garage at Nos 270-276 Huntingdon Street in Nottingham is recommended for listing at Grade II.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION

The former bus garage at Nos 270-276 Huntingdon Street, Nottingham, is recommended for listing at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a well-preserved and distinctively-detailed example of inter-war transport architecture, designed in a 'Moderne' style rarely seen in surviving examples of the building type of this period;

* the building retains almost all of its original architectural and constructional detailing, including external decorative faience cladding and a complex lightweight steel roof structure designed to accomplish long, uninterrupted roof spans.

Historic interest:

* the development of the building can be seen as part of, and a response to, the significant inter-war expansion of motor transport and the national road network, as experienced by a nationally significant bus company in a major urban context.

Countersigning comments:

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Agree. The former bus garage, 270-276 Huntingdon Street, Nottingham is a distinctively-detailed and rare example of inter-war transport architecture, designed in a 'Moderne' style which survives in a near complete form. As such it is recommended for listing at Grade II. Caroline Skinner 14 August 2019.

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Annex 1

List Entry

List Entry Summary This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Name: Former bus garage, 270-276 Huntingdon Road

List Entry Number: 1466428

Location 270-276 Huntingdon Street, Nottingham, NG1 3NL

The building may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County District District Type Parish City of Nottingham Unitary Authority Non Civil Parish

National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.

Grade: II

Date first listed: Date of most recent amendment:

Legacy System Information This section only relates to older records, created before the introduction of the National Heritage List for England in 2011.

Legacy System: Not applicable to this List entry. Legacy Number: Not applicable to this List entry.

Asset Groupings This List entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.

List Entry Description

Summary of Building A little-altered, purpose-built bus garage, designed in a 'Moderne' style for the Barton Transport bus company and completed in 1939.

Reasons for Designation The former bus garage at Nos 270-276 Huntingdon Street, Nottingham, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

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Architectural interest:

* as a well-preserved and distinctively-detailed example of inter-war transport architecture, designed in a 'Moderne' style rarely seen in surviving examples of the building type of this period;

Historic interest:

History The former bus garage on Huntingdon Street, Nottingham was built for the Barton Transport bus company, and completed in 1939. The architect is believed to be HH Dawson. Huntingdon Street was developed in the 1930s as part of a road building programme for Nottingham which included an inner ring road on the northern and eastern edges of the city centre. Huntingdon Street was a new northern arterial road, and associated with its development were a number of new facilities, including a retail market, bus station and bus garage. The garage building incorporated ground floor shop units, parts of which were used as a ticket office.

The Barton Transport bus company founded in 1908 became one of the largest independent bus companies in England, operating throughout the East Midlands. The company was merged with the Trent bus company in 1989, becoming Trent Barton, and the Huntingdon Road garage eventually ceased being used as a bus transport site. The garage building was subsequently used as a car showroom, and has more recently been closed altogether.

Details An inter-war bus garage, completed in 1939 in a Moderne style for the Barton Transport bus company, to the designs of HH Dawson.

PLAN The building is roughly square on plan, with the principal entrance elevation facing onto Huntingdon Street.

MATERIALS The building is built of brick, with decorative faience cladding to the north-east elevation. The roof is formed of three parallel shallow double pitches supported by a complex mild steel trussed roof structure with a corrugated sheet roof covering.

EXTERIOR The symmetrical entrance (north-east) elevation is composed of three sections, with two-storey advanced sections with curved ends flanking a recessed entrance section housing a wide entrance opening, formerly served by doors now replaced by a roller shutter. The walling to the flanking two-bay sections curves inwards to meet the recessed entrance area, and also curves around onto the side elevations for a short distance. Above the central entrance, the walling extends upwards above the roof line of the flanking sections to form a tall parapet wall, the curved ends of which extend back into the main roof area of the building. Historic photographs show this area to have incorporated a window opening above a wide horizontally-reeded band extending the full width of the entrance section to link with the upper storey of the flanking sections of the building. This has been retained but the reeded decoration appears to be covered.

The lower floor areas of the flanking sections were designed to incorporate retail units, with office accommodation above. The lower levels are now covered by sheeting, but the upper levels are clad in white faience, and each section incorporates two wide window openings with three-light transomed metal window frames. At the junction of the curved walling and the entrance section are wide vertically-reeded faience panels extending from floor level to half the height of the ground floor, above which sheeting conceals the upper section. At either end of the frontage, curved faience-clad walling returns onto the side elevations, ending at wide vertically-reeded terminal pilaster-like panels. The side elevations are built of brick and are more functionally detailed, each with evenly-spaced window openings with plain brick heads, shallow faience projecting cills, and metal window frames.

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INTERIOR The interior of the building, with the exception of the frontage units is a single open space. The south-east side wall supports a cantilevered raised walkway extending almost the full length width of the building. The roof structure is a complex, lightweight steel structure, designed to resist both the compression and tension stresses present in the long, unsupported spans, and designed to achieve the open-plan interior required. The curved ends of the front walling either side of the entrance doorway reflect the curvature of the building's exterior.

Selected Sources

Books and journals

Harwood, E, Pevsner Architectural Guides: Nottingham, (2008)

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Map

National Grid Reference: SK5753440291

The above map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. For a copy of the full scale map, please see the attached PDF - 1466428_1.pdf

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