Former seed merchants' offices, conservatory and seed hall, Holywell Hill, St Albans

Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 9 Apr 2022

These buildings were designed by Percival Blow for Ryder & Sons, seed and bulb merchants. The offices, to the left of the photo, date from 1910-11 and are described in the official listing at the Historic England site as being in a 'Combination of Arts and Crafts and Wrenaissance styles' (Wrenaissance refers to a style inspired by the arts of the Renaissance and also the rather later architecture of Sir Christopher Wren). The facade features carved stone reliefs depicting rather idealised scenes of ploughing, sowing and harvesting. The offices were built for Samuel Ryder, seed merchant, mayor of St Albans and the man after whom the golfing Ryder Cup, which he donated, was named. The building subsequently belonged to Sutton Seeds, then to the Post Office, and is now a hotel. Many details of the fine interior have apparently survived these changes of use and ownership; see the listing on the Historic England site https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1251301?section=official-list-entry . The conservatory and seed hall, the white building beyond the offices, now a cafe restaurant, followed around 1930. The structure is built of brick and reinforced concrete with a steel frame and a glazed roof. It too is a listed building, described as being in a classical style with Art Deco style glazing; the listing can be found at the Historic England site https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1103013?section=official-list-entry .

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0