Former Fox's auctioneers at 2 and 4 Grove Street, Dewsbury including gate piers, yard paving and rear extension fronting Oates Street, Dewsbury, Kirklees

Summary

A former auction house, now a factory, of 1878 by John Kirk and Sons for William Frederick Fox and with extensions of around 1919 and 1933 for Luke Howgate and Son.

Description

Auction house, now (2022) used as a factory, of 1878 by John Kirk and Sons for William Frederick Fox and with extensions of around 1919 and 1933 for Luke Howgate and Son.

MATERIALS: yellow sandstone and brick walls, slate roofs, timber windows.

PLAN: standing on the east side of Grove Street, which slopes steeply towards its south end; saleroom block at number 4, with an extension to the south also running eastwards to Oates Street, and linked by a bridge to the stable block at number 2.

EXTERIOR:

Saleroom block
This is of two storeys and three bays with a hipped roof, and of rock-faced stone in diminishing courses. Its west front has a deep, bracketed cornice and a similar storey-band, ashlar quoin strips above a rock-faced plinth, and a central, battered, stone eaves chimney stack. The first-floor windows have eared architraves and bracketed sills linked by a sill band. The ground floor is treated as an arcade with recessed round-headed openings linked by moulded bands at plinth and impost levels. The entrance is at the left with steps and a plain fanlight over panelled double doors. The windows have tracery glazing bars forming two arched lights with an oculus above, and stone aprons below the sills. The arched heads have keystones; those at the left and right have unusual carved heads almost in the round, depicting William Frederick Fox (over the door) and Dr George Fearnley. There is a projecting decorative cast-iron sign bracket above the central ground-floor window.

The north wall is blind and of horizontally-dressed, squared stone, with moulded eaves brackets. The east wall is also blind and of the same stone, with brick at basement level, abutted to the south by the brick east wall of the extension’s basement. The south wall is partially obscured by the extension, but is similar to the west wall. It has moulded eaves brackets and band, and a raised sill band. Three pairs of windows have segmental-arched heads and mullions, with short stone jambs above a moulded impost band. All of the first-floor windows are vertical sliding sashes with horns.

Extensions
The west front of the earlier extension is of stone matching the saleroom block, and eight bays wide. It is single storey over a basement, but due to the fall of the street, at the left the basement windows are small while at the right they are almost as tall as those above. The windows are stacked, spaced in four sets. The eaves brackets are subtly spaced, with three per window with one between each set of windows. Windows all have stone lintels and sills; the pair at the left have slightly lower sills than the rest. The extension’s south wall is in two parts reflecting the phasing. The east half (near Oates Street) is of brick and gabled. The west half is of stone matching the street frontages, and half-hipped. Due to the fall of the street it is of two storeys with a wide basement door at the left, flanked by windows. At first floor is a central loading door stacked above the window to the right of the basement door; this loading door is also flanked by windows, but that to the right has been altered as a doorway and is now obscured by the link bridge. The later extension’s east wall faces onto Oates Street and is of two storeys with a tall ground floor, in rock-faced sandstone of diminishing courses, and stone eaves brackets. It is largely symmetrical, with two pairs of first-floor windows with stone lintels and sills, stacked above an inner window and outer doorway, also with lintels and sills. The left door is at street level with a tall fanlight above, and the right door is raised, with smaller fanlight. The eaves brackets are spaced to reflect the symmetry below.

Stable block
The stable block’s public (west and north) frontages respond to the south wall of the saleroom block, with similar walling, moulded eaves brackets and band, and segmental-arched window heads to the ground floor, linked by a moulded impost band. The block is of two low storeys, and two bays wide to the west front, with a single-storey south bay. Each floor has a raised sill band with moulded sill brackets. The first-floor (and southern ground-floor) lintels are chamfered. The roofs are hipped and there is a small stone corner chimney stack. The left and right ground-floor windows are blind (with a small inserted window at the left); all others are sliding sashes.

The north wall is of four bays. The three right-hand bays are symmetrical, with a wide central doorway flanked by stacked windows, and a small door above. The sill bands do not have the sill brackets of the west front. The left bay is largely obscured at first floor by the bridge, which accesses the hay-loft doorway. Below this the former carriage opening is blocked in brick, with a smaller doorway. The east and south walls are of brick, with stone eaves brackets. Windows are sliding sashes at first-floor level and casements to the ground floor.

INTERIOR: the saleroom block retains its lobby with terrazzo floor, moulded cornices, skirting, dado and architraves, a stone staircase with balustrade (the balusters are enclosed), and a cashier’s office doorway and window. The first-floor sales room has chamfered timber ceiling beams with pendants and moulded corbels, and retains window architraves and a decorative timber panel to the stair doorway. The north office retains timber panelling, architraves and door, and a fireplace with a rose motif in relief. The south office retains a fireplace with a tile surround, and architraves and cornicing. The basement retains a strong-room at the foot of the stone stairs. Much of the original external south wall remains in the basement, which has a kitchen in the original south-west corner, retaining its original door and sash window, and a cast-iron cooking range with rose-and-thistle decoration, stamped T JAMES & SONS, DEWSBURY.

The extension retains a suite of office furniture including a reception counter with glazed screens and bracketed lamp standards, and panelled timber cubicle dividers, all with Art Nouveau etched glass.

The stable block retains stone and brick floors, a decorative stall-divider newel and rails, timber stall panelling, gas-light fittings and a small cast-iron fireplace.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the stable yard retains some stone flag and sett paving. The original square stone gate piers to the stable yard remain, with the capstone of the south pier currently unseated and resting in the yard.

History

The street which is now Grove Street was originally laid out as Fearnley Street, in the 1870s. It is named as such on the plans submitted to the council in January 1878 by John Kirk and Sons for the construction of the auctioneer’s premises now numbered 2 and 4 Grove Street. They were built for William Frederick Fox, who previously held sales at various hotels in the town. (The 1851 census shows that Fox was born in Norfolk, and was then a 20-year-old draper’s assistant living on Westgate). The premises were used for the storage and sale of furniture and a range of goods including horses, which required special facilities. The street was laid out across land belonging to Grove House, which was bought in 1845 by Dr George Fearnley. He is thought to have been a surgeon and apothecary in Manchester, before moving to practise in Dewsbury. In 1862 he became Dewsbury’s first mayor, holding the office until his death in 1864. In 1870 Grove House was occupied by another doctor, William Connon, and by 1881 Connon’s address (Grove House survived until 1888) was given as Grove Street - Fearnley Street clearly having been a short-lived name. The carved heads on the arch keystones of the front wall of number 4 depict Fox and Fearnley.

The plans show that what is now 4 Grove Street housed sale rooms on the ground and first floors, with two office spaces at ground floor facing the street. South of this was an open area divided by a wall from the yard to the north of 2 Grove Street, which was a stable block. This had two loose boxes on the east side, and two stalls on the west; in the south-west corner was a small harness room. To the east of the stables was an open-fronted space to house a carriage, and over all of these was a hayloft. The triangular space to the south was covered and housed more stalls. Steps rose eastward against the north wall to access the hayloft through a door above the carriage house.

The plans also show that the building shown in the yard to the north of 4 Grove Street on the 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey (OS) maps of 1888 and 1908 was not originally proposed, although it probably was contemporary with the rest of the building, or built very soon afterwards (it was probably a covered space for storage). A structure along the east wall of the yard on those maps was also not on the original plans, and was probably also for storage or shelter. This suggests that the intended wall dividing the stable yard from the salerooms yard was never built. Fox owned the property until his death in 1907. By 1915, when the 1922 OS map was surveyed, the whole of the yard to the north of the salerooms was covered, and the structure on the stable yard wall had been enlarged and was open-fronted.

Luke Howgate, a trade funeral furnisher, acquired the premises in 1919. Soon after this the firm extended number 4 to the south, over much of the stable yard, with a single-storey building over a basement that is fully exposed at the south end due to the fall of the street. This entailed the creation of wide openings in the south wall of the original block. The Art Nouveau office dividers and counters are probably original fixtures to the extension. The inserted spiral staircase and glazed screens and the panelling and fireplace in the original cashier’s office, probably also date from this period.

In 1933 the land to the east was also bought by Howgates’, and after this (but before 1938, when the 1942 1:2,500 OS map was surveyed) the rear block fronting Oates Street was built. Also shown on the 1942 map was an enclosed timber bridge link (with storage below) between the salesroom extension and the stable block. This was damaged by fire in 2020, and replaced with an enclosed steel bridge. The yard to the north of number 4 was also cleared in the C21, for parking. Howgates’ continue (in 2022) to operate from the premises.

Reasons for Listing

The former Fox’s auctioneers at 2 and 4 Grove Street Dewsbury, a former auction house of 1878 by John Kirk and Sons for William Frederick Fox and with extensions of around 1919 and 1933, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a well-executed example by the notable architectural firm John Kirk and Sons, representing a form of trading that is (with some key exceptions) generally absent from modern life;
* for its good degree of survival, enhanced by sensitive extensions, and retaining many features of interest, especially those associated with the stabling of horses.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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