XLIV—WHITFIELD STREET
(Formerly John Street, Upper John Street and Hertford Street)
Whitfield Street, named after George Whitefield who founded the
chapel in Tottenham Court Road, runs north and south and now reaches
from Windmill Street to Warren Street traversing the three estates described
in the introduction to this section of the parish. It was formerly John
Street (from Windmill Street to Howland Street), Upper John Street
(between Howland Street and Maple, formerly London, Street) and Hertford
Street for the remainder which lay in the Fitzroy estate. The numbers of
the houses now proceed from south to north, with the odd numbers on the
west and the even on the east side. The street has suffered severely from
the air-raids during the war and most of the west side has gone from Windmill
Street as far as Grafton Way. Nos. 79–85, however, between Chitty Street
and Howland Street, although damaged by raids, present four houses of
uniform design, except for some subsequent alterations. The usual variation
in size is shown by the greater width of No. 79 but the plain brick fronts,
finished by a parapet and mansard roofs, with their attic dormer windows,
reduce street architecture to its simplest elements. The entrances are the
only "features" and they are recessed in the plainest manner within an arch
formed alternately of blocks of 3 courses of brick, and cement quoins of
similar size, which are repeated round the arch as key block and voussoirs.
No. 79 has had its ground floor facing rendered in cement, No. 81 was raised
an additional storey, while No. 85 was given a pleasant shop front with well
designed fascia and sash-bars to the window. All the houses except the
shop retained their wrought iron railings which guarded the basement areas
and ramped to a higher level on each side of the entrance thresholds. Much
the same treatment could be seen in Nos. 91 to 111. These houses (also
much damaged) were less well proportioned owing to their being five storeys
in height above the basement. In the case of Nos. 95 and 97, the first floor
windows had been lowered to floor level and were no doubt provided with
balconies which have disappeared. Nos. 91 and 97, had the popular ground
floor rendering in cement and excellent wrought iron railings. No. 107 was
almost entirely demolished.
At the northern angle where Maple Street (formerly London Street)
joins Whitfield Street stood Fitzroy Chapel, later St. Saviour's Church,
which is separately noticed below (p. 48). North of this came Nos. 119–129 of which No. 119 is wrecked, Nos. 121–127 rebuilt and No. 129 which
alone retains its original facing of stock brick.
The west side of the northernmost part of Whitfield Street, north of
Grafton Way, comprising Nos. 131 to 163, is remarkable for its interesting
series of shop fronts dating from the early years of the 19th-century. The
houses are of the same plain character as those already described and are four
storeys in height. At No. 131 there is a square shop window each side of
the central double door. Over each window is a row of five rectangular
panels of glass and the whole including the private door to the house (on the
right) is crowned by a plain fascia with shaped ends and a modillion cornice.
The shaped and moulded divisions between doors and windows support the
fascia in lieu of pilasters. Beneath the windows are solid panels and the whole
is skilfully framed in the wrought iron railings which are here retained in
front of the windows and returned each side of both doors at different heights.
No. 133 has no shop and the entrance is beneath a plain brick arch with a
fanlight of radiating glazing bars in the tympanum. The shop to No. 135
is arranged each side of a central door, with the house door to the left. The
shop front and its fascia are slightly bowed, the detail being beautifully
designed including the five slender panelled pilasters with palm leaf capitals.
No railings are used below but there is evidence that there have been balcony
rails above the fascia.
The shops to Nos. 137, 139 and 141 appear to have been designed
as one scheme, with carved brackets in the fascia, which carries a balcony
having an elaborate cast iron balustrade with honey-suckle ornament. No.
137 has lost its balcony and has been somewhat altered, the brickwork of
the house being painted white. No. 143 has been modernized, the house
being rendered in cement, with a cornice at third floor level and cement
frames to the windows. Nos. 145, 147 and 149 all exhibit interesting
examples of shop fronts; that to No. 145 has a bowed window carried on a
central shaped bracket; No. 147 has a square bay window, five panes wide,
and flanked with single lights, the left-hand one having an additional light
on the return adjoining the door; No. 149 is a very complete specimen of
the bowed shop front with a window each side of the central door and the
house door beneath a metal cobweb fanlight. The fascia is skilfully contrived
with a dentil cornice, plain frieze and moulded architrave, the supports being
slender pilasters with corbel-like caps, the projection of which is adapted to
the shape of the front (Plate 7). The remaining shops Nos. 151 to 163 are
mostly later insertions.
The east side of the street now presents very little of its original
frontage as it has been much rebuilt and its old houses have been destroyed
by the raids. Opposite the end of Scala Street there still stands the Literary
and Scientific Institution which is separately noticed. Between Tottenham
Street and Howland Street most of the area was taken up by Whitefield's
Chapel and Burial Ground (see p. 67), and a new school occupies the northern
half of the space between Howland Street and Maple Street. Nos. 72 to 80
and (north of Maple Street) Nos. 94 to 108 were of a character similar to
the houses described opposite (Nos. 91–111) and have now either disappeared
or are being demolished since they were too seriously damaged to survive.
The site between Grafton Way and Warren Street is almost wholly cleared.
Here stood originally Fitzroy Market, one of the little shopping centres
that were frequently planned in connection with new residential schemes.
Next to the corner of Warren Street stands a stock brick house (No. 122)
with a good entrance door having pedimental and arched casing with pilasters
(Plate 8).
The Scientific and Literary Institution
On the east side of Whitfield Street, almost opposite Scala Street, is
a building with a stucco front of three storeys divided by plain horizontal
bands (Plate 10). In the centre is a porch with twin columns of square
section each side, and above this two pilasters traverse the first and second
floors with a plain entablature and an embryo pediment. Directly over the
porch on the first floor is a window within a pedimental frame and side
pilasters and on the second floor an opening that may have had an inscription panel. Each side of the centre there are single sash windows to the upper
floors, spaced unsymmetrically. This building was designed as a Scientific
and Literary Institution, and at the time of the Chartists' agitation was used
by them for their meetings. An account of their meeting here on 15th April,
1848, is given inSt. Pancras Notes and Queries (No. 284). They met, prior to
their assembling at Kennington Common, and were addressed by their
leader Feargus O'Connor. He dissuaded them from taking part in the
procession, in support of the great petition which was being presented to
Parliament, and his advice, repeated at Kennington, resulted in the procession being abandoned. The meeting was reported in the Illustrated
London News of the same date, where there is a drawing of the interior of the
building—a spacious hall with a large organ at one end and galleries on each
side. (See above.)
Figure 8:
Scientific & Literary Institution, Whitfield Street, from Illustrated London News
According to a further note contributed to St. Pancras Notes and
Queries (No. 297) by Mrs. Willingdale, (fn. *) whose parents lived for 44 years at
25 Pitt Street (now Scala Street) opposite, the building was used later by the
Davenport Brothers, illusionists. She remembered seeing 'General' Tom
Thumb arriving in his carriage. Later still it was the Albert Rooms Dancing
Academy. It is now used for commercial purposes.
Figure 9:
Nos. 7–23 Whitfield Street
Addendum
Mention should be made of a row of eleven small houses that formerly
stood at the southern end of Whitfield Street, on the west side from Colville
Place, southwards. They were built some years after the rest of the street
on the site of the Brewery mentioned on p. 27. (See also Tompson's map,
Plate 1.) These houses were numbered 5 to 25 (odd numbers) and
exhibited an unusual design. From the above sketch it will be seen that
the ground floor had a continuous line of shops (including an entrance to
the rear) beneath a long unbroken entablature. The superstructure of two
storeys was set out in bays between broad projections of brick, carried up
to the parapet with plain capping courses. The three end bays on each side
and the three centre ones had a sash window flanked by single lights on the
first floor, the two intermediate ones having single sashes. On the top floor
each bay had a single window, the parapet being adorned with elongated
dentils formed of pairs of bricks set upright. The whole effect was very
simple and invested this row of houses with marked dignity. They were
destroyed by a flying bomb on 19th June, 1944.