THE ongoing work to revamp Stonebow House made us wonder whether we had, in our files, any photos of St Saviourgate from the days before the brutalist block that is a contender for York's least popular building had shut off the view of St Saviour's Church.
Lo and behold, we found two. "Demolition of a former warehouse in St Saviourgate has opened up this view of the church from which the street takes its name," says the caption to one, dated March 1960 (top). The other, from April 1961, shows the area in front of the church being used as a temporary car park. Some may wish it had remained so.
By 1963, as a third photo shows, the foundations of a new shop and office block were being laid. The view which had opened up so briefly was soon to be lost...
ABOVE: Stonebow, April 1961 -a temporary car park on the site of what was to become offices and a shop
BELOW: August 1963 - a bird's-eye view of the site in Stonebow where the foundations of a new shop and office block were being laid
What made this redevelopment possible, of course, was the creation of Stonebow, the 'new' street connecting Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate and Peaseholme Green. This was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of York Alderman F Brown in October 1955.
We have a photograph of it taken just a couple of months before, showing the road 'well on the way to completion'.
August 10, 1955: work on Stonebow, the new street connecting Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate and Peaseholme Green, nears completion
Another photo taken 15 months later, on January 9, 1957, shows 'workmen erecting the first of the concrete shelters in Stonebow for the use of bus passengers'. Given that the street had been open for more than a year, we wonder why it took so long...
January 1957: workmen putting up the first of several concrete bus shelters in Stonebow
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