The blue plaque to commemorate Thomas Harrison who designed the building now used by the Skipton Building Society is located on Northgate Street in Chester.
The blue plaque is inscribed as follows;
'COMMERCIAL
NEWSROOMS
THIS CLASSICAL BUILDING, DESIGNED
BY THOMAS HARRISON, OPENED IN
1808 AS A COMMERCIAL NEWS ROOM
AND ALSO HOUSED A CIRCULATING
LIBRARY. ITS CONSTRUCTION WAS
FINANCED BY SUBSCRIBERS WHO
LATER FORMED THE CITY CLUB
WHICH CONTINUES TO
THIS DAY.
"Plaque Colour: Blue
Subject Commemorated: Thomas Harrison
Thomas Harrison (7 August (baptised) 1744 – 29 March 1829) was an English architect and bridge engineer who trained in Rome, where he studied classical architecture. Returning to England, he won the competition in 1782 for the design of Skerton Bridge in Lancaster. After moving to Lancaster he worked on local buildings, received commissions for further bridges, and designed country houses in Scotland. In 1786 Harrison was asked to design new buildings within the grounds of Lancaster and Chester castles, projects that occupied him, together with other works, until 1815. On both sites he created accommodation for prisoners, law courts, and a shire hall, while working on various other public buildings, gentlemen's clubs, churches, houses, and monuments elsewhere. His final major commission was for the design of Grosvenor Bridge in Chester.Some of Harrison's designs, including his buildings at Lancaster Castle, were Gothic in style, but most were Neoclassical, particularly those at Chester Castle. He was regarded at the time, and since, as a major influence in the emergence of the Greek Revival in British architecture. A bridge he designed at the start of his career, and another towards the end of his career, incorporated innovative features; Skerton Bridge was the first substantial bridge in England to have a flat roadway, and the Grosvenor Bridge was the longest single-arched masonry bridge in the world at the time of its construction. Many of Harrison's structures have survived, most of them now designated by English Heritage as listed buildings. Despite his work being nationally admired he spent his entire career in northwest England, visiting London only occasionally; most of his buildings were in Lancashire, Cheshire, and the nearby counties.
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"Commercial News Room
Originally, what is now the Skipton Building Society was the Commercial Coffee and News Room. In the early 1800s it was the custom for the well-educated to read newspapers out loud for the benefit of the illiterate (and to show off, one imagines). In the comfortable room on the upper storey they could make use of a well-stocked subscription library, read the latest editions of the Chester Courant and the Chester Chronicle, and sip coffee." (
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The City Club was founded in 1807 as The Commercial Reading Rooms.
"The Chester City Club is one of only a few surviving traditional clubs still located in their original premises.
There are only twelve clubs in existence in this country (excluding Scotland) whose foundation dates back earlier than the Chester City Club. Of these, eight are in London, two in Liverpool, one in Macclesfield and Manchester respectively. But, of the twelve, only three in London and the Chester City Club occupy their original premises.
Stimulated perhaps by the example of their near neighbour of Liverpool, where news rooms had been established several years previously, a group of Chester citizens got together and considered ways and means of establishing similar premises in Chester, and in October 1806, it was decided, provided sufficient support was forthcoming, to erect a news room to be called the “Commercial Coffee Room”. The site contemplated was that on which stood the Three Crowns public house, the Sun Tavern and some small shops, near to St. Peter’s Church at the South end of Shoemaker’s Row in Northgate Street.
On the 4th November, 1806, a meeting was held with Alderman Doctor Larden in the chair and subscriptions of thirty guineas were invited from “respectable inhabitants of the City”. The original response to this invitation was evidently insufficient to carry on with the somewhat ambitious project, as some weeks later a public advertisement appeared in the Chester newspapers appealing for an increase in the number of Subscribers. Apparently this had the desired effect.
The joint owners of the site, Chester Corporation and Earl Grosvenor, were thereupon approached and after some little delay the site was acquired.
The petitions to “the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of the City” and to Earl Grosvenor mention that the subscribers to the Public Library had intended to erect a building on the same plot of ground but the project had been abandoned. This abortive intention was mentioned probably to illustrate the general need for a place of intellectual recreation in the City.
Consequent upon the success of the petitions Mr. Timothy Whitley (agent for Lord Grosvenor) and Mr. Thomas Rathbone, Mayor, were proposed and admitted as members-to-be of the new institution. The Secretary writes, “attended upon Mr. Rathbone and Mr. Whitley to inform them of their having been admitted, which they declined to become for the present”.
On January 13th, 1807, the first general meeting of the Subscribers was held.Nine trustees were appointed and an architect was commissioned to draw up plans. Shortly afterwards the old buildings on the site were demolished and on May 1st, 1807, the foundation stone of The Commercial News Rooms was laid by one George French. A brass plate with the follwoing inscription is said to have been placed underneath the foundation stone:- “This building was erected by Subscription for the accomodation and convenience of the inhabitants of this City as a Commercial News Room in the fourty-seventh year of His Majesty George the Third”.
Silver and other coins in a basin were also fixed under the first stone, at a cost of 7/6d. This must have been a thirsty job, for the accounts contain a further item of “Liquor for workmen £5 3s. 4d.”.
1807. A year which saw the abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire.
Incidently this gave rise to considerable apprehension regarding the future of the Port of Liverpool, which had been extensively concerned in the Trade, but all fears on this score proved to be unfounded.
A year of outstanding international events, and the Napoleonic War in full
blast.
A year in which oil and candles were the only illuminants of Chester; when the Rows (and possibly the streets as well) were, in all probability, infested after dark by footpads, and wives had good cause for alarm if husbands tarried too long at the Three Crowns, or some other hostelry. The day of the “Club” had not yet arrived.
Little difficulty seems to have been experienced in getting rid of the unfortunate occupiers of the properties on the site. The earliest cash account shews that the two shopkeepers were each paid five guineas to quit their premises and one good lady vacated her dwelling-house on receipt of one guinea.
The Sun Tavern on the site was replaced by a new tavern named the “Commercial Inn” destined later to become a thorn in the flesh of the News Room proprietors.
By September it was reported that everything was in a “state of forwardness”.
On the twenty-third of June 1808 the premises were completed; a Ball and Supper were held to commemorate the event and, on the following day, the News Room was opened for the first time.
The building and equipping of the News Room and Commercial Inn was a costly business, considerably more so than was originally estimated. The total outgoings for the News Room was £2,711 and for the Commercial Inn £1,377. The architect’s fee was 100 guineas.
The earliest Minutes record that tenders for the work were issued to individual tradesmen, which was the general custom of the time. Among the items so recorded we find:-
Brickwick W. Boden £ 350.00
Stonework R. Jones £ 250.00
Carpenter G. Boden £ 690.00
Plasterer J. Rowland £ 150.00
Painter R. Morris £ 25.00
Mantelpieces F. Webster £ 31.00
Chairs and Tables J. Gardner £ 82.00
The News Room was illuminated by a 4-burner lamp, specially made, at a cost of £47.
The buildings were insured for £1,800 and £700 respectively. The selection of the insurance agent was determined by drawing lots, presumably between the gentlemen tendering for the agency.
Local comment was very favourable towards the new Commercial Buildings.One cannot do better than quote from T. Poole’s “History of Chester”, published in Chester in 1815:-
“The Commercial News Room and Buildings are situated in Northgate Street, adjoining St. Peter’s Church. The beautiful and highly finished stone front is of the Ionic order, after the designs of Mr. Harrison; on a line with the street are two very excellent shops, above is the News Room, forty-five feet long by twenty-six wide, with a fire place at each end; it is a remarkably light and pleasant room; all the best London, and many of the Provincial newspapers, are taken, also the various Magazines, Reviews, Journals, Lists and Public Records. Of this establishment there are one hundred Proprietors; no annual subscribers are admitted, but the utmost facility is given to the introduction of strangers by proprietors. According to the original rules, the Right Hon. Robert Earl Grosvenor, and the Mayor of Chester, are honorary members, and have the privilege of introducing as many strangers as they think proper. Also the Members of Parliament for the City and County; the General commanding the district, and his staff, have full liberty of frequenting the room. The entrance to it is from the west, with the committee-room on one side, and on the other the apartment where the papers are filed, and the keeper of the room attends. Above these two and the entrance, is a very excellent room, let to the Public, or City Library. On the opposite side of the court is the Commercial Tavern, also belonging to the Proprietors of the News Room &c.
The City Library consists of a very large and choice selection of books, and is now, as above stated, contained in an excellent room of the Commercial Buildings, having been removed there from its former situation in Whitefriar’s Street, in the spring of 1815. The number of proprietors is at present a hundred and twenty, many of them are also proprietors of the News Room &c. underneath, but the two establishments are kept perfectly distinct, and are managed by different committees”.
It is interesting to note that the same passage, in identical words, appears in Hemmingway’s “History of Chester” published in 1831.
The late C. J. Vincent also quotes the identical passage (relating only to the Commercial News Room Buildings) in his booklet on the Chester City Club and ascribes the authorship to “a History of Chester published in 1815 under the initials L.M.B .P.”
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