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View from Snow Hill to St. John's Church.
View of part of the east side.
Listing: all the older houses in George Street are cited as late 18th
century with later alterations.
Plaque: (on Number 6) The Villiers Reform Club met here in the early
1880s. Named after Rt.Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, 1802-1898, Member of
Parliament for Wolverhampton 1835-1898, Father of the House of Commons,
1890-1898, longest serving M.P. of all time.
Comment: George Street provides one of the most complete period
streetscapes in central Wolverhampton. Only the (listed) Cloisters, and the
sad late 20th century building next to them, (centre right of top picture)
are of later date, as is the (listed) Denning House (just off to the left of
the top picture) which is cited as early 19th century with late 20th century
alterations.
George Street was part of a late eighteenth century development, with
streets laid out on the cardinal points from St. John's Square, around the
church. It seems that the area was then sold off plot by plot, so that
the houses were all of individual design or in pairs. Originally the
street seems to have been inhabited by the richer industrialists and others,
before it became fashionable to move even further from the town centre and
into even bigger houses. The street then went down market (though
possibly never as far down market as St. John's Square) somewhat typified by
the pub (now long gone) known as the Flea and Fidget. In the latter
half of the 20th century things seem to have improved somewhat as
professional firms moved in. In due course the whole area as slowly
upgraded again, The city council made a further effort, starting in
2001, with further restoration and improvement, with some of the houses
reverting to residential use. Many iron railings have been
restored and the street paved with granite setts.
The result was good but the one blot of the landscape was number 12
which was falling part and down. It was saved by becoming the
first project of the The City of Wolverhampton Regenerating Buildings
Preservation Trust, who restored the frontage to complete the renewed
street scene, and who converted the interior into three flats. It
was formally opened in May 2007 and put on the market at the same time
(for £350,000) to raise the funds to start the Trust's next project.
Number 12 was originally built for Benjamin Mander who had, up until
then, been living above the shop at his varnish factory in John Street.
Having made a lot of money by making John Street uninhabitable, he
bought this site on 25th March 1790, covenanting to build house "at
least 25 ft. 6 in. to the ceilings of the garrets, with sash windows"
and to lay out a footpath, two yards wide, in front of the house and to
build a small wall for a parapet fence. These are typical
provisions in deeds for Georgian estate development.
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