Former Nottingham Cooperative Society Stables, , City of Nottingham

Summary

Stables to former Nottingham Cooperative Society Dairy and Bakery, 1925, to designs by W V Betts.

Description

Stables to former Nottingham Cooperative Society Dairy and Bakery, 1925, to designs by W V Betts.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in English bond with a blue brick plinth and reconstituted stone lintels. Rear elevation in cheaper brick. Slate roofs with brick stacks and copper ventilators.

PLAN: standing on the corner of Meadow Lane and Lady Bay Bridge, on a river-side plot. Originally a continuous 19-bay rectangular range facing north-west, split into two detached rectangular-plan ranges at the point of a former carriageway opening. There is a small return wing to the rear, at the southern end of the building.

EXTERIOR: the two building ranges are of two storeys, with bays articulated by plain brick pilasters. There is an offset plinth, and stepped brick eaves. The original arrangement had a regular pattern of fenestration, with irregular openings to every fourth bay.

The north-east range is eight bays, generally with a window to each storey; on the ground floor, wide openings with rough brick segmental arched heads and shaped blue brick sills, with six-light timber casements. On the first floor, windows are flat arched with reconstituted stone lintels and have three-over-three timber casements, set high within the wall. The first and fifth bay are different; the former contains a single round-arched window opening into the former meal room, and the latter, a flat-arched, tall window on the ground floor, and a round-arched opening above. The northern gable, acutely angled in line with Lady Bay Bridge road, has an irregular arrangement of two windows on the ground floor, and taking-in door and window above. On the opposite gable end, formerly the internal wall of the carriageway arch, the angle has rounded blue brick, and a series of five brick piers would have supported the floor above. The elevation above is rendered. The rear, south-east, elevation is similarly composed, but with three doorways providing access to the building. A doorway to the end bay (the former meal room) has been blocked. Pitched roof with copper ventilators with conical caps set on shaped brick stacks, or directly on the ridge.

The southern building has nine regular bays and one double-width bay adjacent to the former carriageway arch. This wide bay is open on the ground floor of the street elevation and into the former archway, with a rebuilt brick pier at the corner and RSJs spanning the openings. Ground floor elevation set back, with a canted corner with double doors and leaded windows in segmental arched openings into offices within. Windows along the remainder of the elevation are paired two-light casements on the ground floor, and are pairs of three-light casements on the first floor – enlarged since the original construction. The north-east end of the rear elevation has a doorway and leaded windows in segmental arched openings into the former office. Loading door with winch above into another meal room. Much reconfiguration of ground floor openings, recognisable by concrete lintels and new brickwork. On the first floor, three-light casements enlarged from the original design.

Narrow return wing, described on proposed plans a having two loose boxes for sick horses, and with the entrance to a second horse ramp. Openings infilled and partially reconfigured. Pitched roof with catslide from roof of main range.

INTERIOR: north-east building: a series of rooms formed by brick cross walls, with central doorways. Within the canted northernmost bay a wide tiled fireplace to the former meal room. Timber stair and rough opening in floor above, probably original. Stalls were originally located where windows are set high within the walls. Walls plastered, possibly concealing original manger-level glazed brick, and floor covered in screed. On first floor exposed brick walls with a strip of glazed brick at manger height. Four stalls on either side of the third and fourth bays; these have the remains of stall partitions: cast iron posts with ball finials, with matchboard panels within metal frames. Ridged concrete floors within some stalls. Roof supported on the brick cross walls, with intermediate Howe trusses and single RSJ purlins. On the first floor some brick flues to the ventilation system.

South-west building: office to northern end with chimneybreast (no chimneypieces) and leaded windows. Heated rooms above shown as harness and meal rooms on proposed plans. In the adjacent bay, a two-stage ramp for horses, with wide concrete inclines with ridged surface and holes, possibly to affix mats, and brick walls with curved corners. Remainder of ground and first floors converted to commercial use, with plastered walls and suspended ceilings, some partitioning and reconfiguration. Stair within southernmost bay, possibly replacing a second horse ramp shown on proposed plans. Some boxed-in flues to the ventilation system survive.

Return wing depicted on one proposed plan as having two loose boxes for sick horses. Similarly converted.

History

The Nottingham Cooperative Society (NCS) stables were erected in around 1925 to the designs of W V Betts. Built to serve an industrial complex that began with a dairy and bakery, and later, included factories for the production of confectionary, orange juice, and mineral water, along with various other functions and associated ancillary facilities including garages, a builders’ yard, car wash, and a milk float charging building. Records in the Nottinghamshire Archives include a great number of planning proposals for new buildings and alterations to earlier buildings, suggesting a fast pace of change and development from the 1920s into the post-war decades. Two sets of plans show the stables as proposed in 1925, though with some differences from what was built.

The use of horse-drawn transport in commerce was unusual in the 1920s, having been largely replaced by motorised vehicles. However, their use in certain industries, including dairying and brewing, persisted until well into the second half of the C20. With a couple of exceptions, Cooperative societies only entered the dairying industry in the C20, with most dairies being built after the First World War, as was the case in Nottingham. The NCS continued to use horses for milk rounds and deliveries until the 1950s.

As built, the stables had a carriageway opening providing access from Meadow Lane to a large yard to the rear. The height of the opening must have proved insufficient at some point, for the first floor above it was demolished, leaving the building in two detached sections. After the NCS dispensed with horses the stables were repurposed. Most of the fittings were removed and internal brick walls plastered over, though the upper floor of the north-east range survives better due to poor access. The proposed plans show that within the south-west range there were two ramps for horses to access the first floor; assuming that both were built, that to the south-west has been replaced by an open-well stair. The small, high-level windows lighting the stalls have been enlarged on the south-western range, with those to the southernmost four bays changed entirely. The rear elevation, particularly of the south-west range, has reconfigured openings, as does the return wing, shown on plans as being used for sick horses.

William Vallance Betts LRIBA (1862-1933) of Basford, Nottingham, was a prolific local architect who had a long association with the Co-Op Societies of Nottingham and Cinderhill. In addition to the industrial buildings on the Meadow Lane site, Betts designed the large NCS department store on Upper Parliament Street, and the store and house in Beeston. Betts went into partnership with his son, Albert William, and the company continued working for the Nottingham Society until at least the 1960s.

Reasons for Listing

The former Nottingham Cooperative Society Stables are listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the two-storey stables is an example of a once-common urban building type, mainly dating from the late-C19 and early-C20, that is now very rare;
* a modest, though carefully and competently composed building with a distinct industrial character, which retains its external rhythm through strong bay articulation and fenestration;
* retaining features externally which speak of its function: ventilation cowls, stable windows, hayloft openings and a winch;
* despite alterations the stables remain functionally legible, with distinctions between different parts of the building and clear modes of use;
* retaining some stable fittings, ventilation structures, and a horse ramp, all contributing to the legibility of the building.

Historic interest:

* a relatively late example of a working horse stable, but demonstrating the on-going importance of horses in certain industries, where they continued to play an important role until later in the C20;
* one of a number of buildings designed by a local architect W V Betts for the Nottingham Cooperative Society.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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