IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
George Street, NOTTINGHAM, NG1 3BH

A glance along this side of George Street in the direction of Carlton Street - where it meets Lincoln Street - reveals the rather tired-looking facade of some once white-fronted business premises. These look as though they may have recently been vacated in view of the fact that the company name plate has been allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. In the distance and on the same side of the road are the business premises previously occupied by Watson Fothergill, the well-known but now deceased Nottingham architect. Their mixed Gothic Revival and Old English vernacular style of architecture is also replicated in many other Nottingham locations.

Dominating this location at the Old Lenton Street/George Street junction is the Arts Theatre that is operated by volunteers through a charity, The Co-Operative Arts Theatre Trust.

Built as Staveley's Particular Baptist Chapel in 1815. It has since lost all its features apart from the Greek Doric porch, which may account for it not being listed. A.H. Betts converted it into a theatre for the Co-operative Society in 1946-48. Lord knows what the Baptists would make of the bold pink colour scheme. Being advertised at the time was a one-man show by actor Peter Bowles.

Built in 1827 as the presbytery to the adjacent Roman Catholic chapel https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4108752 , now converted to offices. Listed Grade II.

The splendidly exuberant building in the centre was designed as his offices by Nottingham's most celebrated Victorian architect, Watson Fothergill. In 2015 the corner oriel was damaged by a careless lorry driver, and the damage was repaired in 2018. To prevent another accident a cast-iron bollard has been set into the pavement. See Image] and Image For more photographs of this building and others by Fothergill, see David Lally's https://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Buildings-of-Watson-Fothergill .

This extravagant confection was built as a showcase of Fothergill's style, to impress clients. The rather eroded datestone ("Built 1895") is to the left of the quatrefoil. The picture gives a clear idea of the building's bright colours, which were much less apparent when I first came to know it in the smoke-blackened days of coal fires and steam trains.

This little gem was built by Watson Fothergill in 1894-95 as his own office. The main figure at the first floor depicts an architect consulting plans - Pevsner wonders if it might be Fothergill himself - and there are busts of Victorian architectural giants Pugin and Street, and panels inscribed with the names of others - Scott, Burges and Norman Shaw. Much more scrumptious detail besides (Image]). Grade II listed. John Sutton has taken many fine close-ups of this building, including: Image], Image] and Image I think it was empty at the time of the photo. Watson Fothergill, or Fothergill Watson as he began life, is Nottingham's Victorian architectural superstar. Walking around the city, it's not long before his idiosyncratic buildings jump out. Drawing on English traditions in a style sometimes labelled as Domestic Revival, his copious use of polychromatic bands of stone, timberwork and carved detail are very distinctive. In lesser hands, a mass of features results in an overwrought jumble, but Fothergill, despite apparently never working outside Nottinghamshire, and rarely even outside the city, was clearly skilled enough to blend everything together successfully. For a full list of his buildings, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Buildings-of-Watson-Fothergill.

The figure is an architect consulting plans with a model of a church or cathedral at his feet. There are also busts of architects Pugin and Street. Below are "four terracotta panels by Benjamin Creswick depicting classical and medieval buildings, and Wollaton Hall, under construction". Full view: Image

A careless lorry driver damaged the brickwork of the oriel window of Watson Fothergill's offices in George Street earlier in 2015. For more about Fothergill and his remarkable buildings, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Buildings-of-Watson-Fothergill .

A careless lorry driver damaged the brickwork of the oriel window of Watson Fothergill's offices in George Street earlier in 2015. For a closer view of the damage, see Image For more about Fothergill and his remarkable buildings, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/The-Buildings-of-Watson-Fothergill .