Westlegate
Westlegate
In the 1920s No 16 with its adjoining premises was occupied by Charles Watling, acting as agent for Carter Paterson, the carriers. In 1940 when my photograph was taken it had become vacant and was being offered to let, but a discouraging feature to any intending lessee was the state of the upper frontage, interesting though it may have been to any student of architecture. A small jetty overhanging the ground floor by a foot or so supported the front wall of the upper floors, which had at some time been faced with hanging tiles. Unfortunately the greater part of these had recently fallen away to reveal the timber framework. Repairs were later carried out and in the middle 1950s the shop was occupied by Charles Cubitt, an antiques dealer. This turned out to be only a temporary arrangement, for the site was soon acquired and cleared by property developers who in 1960-61 erected in its place Westlegate House, known locally as the Glass Tower - the first or several multi-storey office developments to be built in the city. Text and photographs Copyright © G.A.F.Plunkett 2001 |
In Westlegate stood for several
centuries a three-storey building comprising Nos 16 and
18. They adjoined the west side of the existing thatched
house, familiar in days gone by as the Barking Dickey
public house, but to later generations first as a
greengrocer’s and then as a bank.