Beverley Hills; Down and Out

Some buildings just surprise you.

From the outside this particular two storey red brick property was nothing really special.

In fact it was a bit boring.

The frontage was directly onto the pavement of the narrow back lane just off the Market Place in one of the most popular and picturesque of East Yorkshire towns. I will have walked past it hundred of times over the last thirty years of living and working in and around the place but never really had cause to take notice.

It occupied a corner plot with the return, south elevation onto an even narrower lane bearing the quaint name of a Public House that stood on the opposite corner.

I wandered up and down taking account of the construction and condition, as part of a commission for a longstanding client who was considering its purchase.

The external fabric in imperial sized facings dated from the early 1900's although the red brick will undoubtedly have been a bit of gentrification onto an earlier Georgian or late Victorian building. The adjoining property was clearly around 200 years old given the style and materials as were many of the buildings in the streetscape.

Under the patched up slate roof were rows of four windows per each of the two storeys although the inner pair, up and down, were actually part of a former cafe, a longstanding arrangement common to single ownership.

There were no doors in the frontage giving a rather blank facade. No wonder it was easy to just pass by.

The south side was a continuation of the same style and format with the exception of a plank--type door equidistant to the regularly spaced windows. I was beginning to appreciate the scale and footprint of the building and a short gable end, abutted by a modern mews town house development attracted my interest. It had been largely rebuilt but I could make out the shape and from an elevated walkway serving a first floor flat in the development I had a good view over the rear roof and walls.

The building was a true rectangle, long and narrow and at the base of the wall I could make out, as I had anticipated, a few preserved courses of hand made Georgian bricks.

I was now intrigued as to what was within those four walls.

Amongst the town centre surroundings it did not fit in with the usual shops, offices and other commercial uses and yet it was not really out of place.

My first glimpse of the interior added to the confusion. The plank door was onto a restricted corridor that crossed the building to another matching entrance on a south to north axis. The centre point of the corridor was bisected east to west with another walkway.

In such a narrow building these features dominated and meant that any rooms off would be small and cramped, almost like monastic cells.

One area did have a through aspect and with a basic sink, storage cupboards and the central heating boiler served as a communal kitchen and lounge. It was austere and unwelcoming.

The rest of the ground floor was in small compartments, just about adequate to take a single bed, bedside cabinet and a free standing wardrobe. On the cold, darker north side was a wash room with two urinals, two wc cubicles and a couple of wall mounted basins, all well past their best, heavily stained and firred up.

Two staircases led to a duplicated layout at first floor level.

After about twenty minutes I could feel my throat constricting. I had not really noticed that just about every surface had a thick yellowish coating of tarry nicotine.

The function of the building was now becoming clear.

It was a good old fashioned Lodging House.

Every town, whether large or small and certainly regional cities will have had a proliferation of this type of use about 100 years ago. The working classes could not afford nor would entertain a stay in a hotel or bed and breakfast establishment if coming to the town or a city for casual employment or even a hard earned recreational trip.

This particular example was in its heyday located close to hostelries, the railway station, coaching stands and adjacent to the historic Corn Exchange, trade and livestock markets. Just outside of the town was a popular horse racing venue which drew huge crowds at the regular meetings.

For a few shillings it will have been possible to secure a bed for the night and the prospect of a meal, either chargeable or on a self catering basis. The building will have worked well and no doubt turned a tidy profit and well into the modern era.

I was seeing the premises at very much of a low point in its lifecycle.

The odours and sticky residues reflected the last occupants, single males as a low budget, last resort residence. It was a sort of safety net for the dispossessed, depressed and down and outs in society and as such was a valuable social asset.

However, enforcement of Local Authority  standards , beneficial overall ,could not be financed through the level of affordable rents or a poorly motivated and resourced current owner.

The doors of the Lodging House had closed a couple of years ago. It was the end of an era.