32n25: Derelict Phoenix Warehouse, Spear,
Houfe & Co. Ltd., High St, 1982 - River Hull
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A view of Hull
32n25: Derelict Phoenix Warehouse, Spear,
Houfe & Co. Ltd., High St, 1982 - River Hull
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Still Occupied
Images on this site are arranged into rough areas by location as in my book 'Still Occupied', available on Blurb. Eventually this site will contain all the images in that book and more.
It is hard to relate this riverside warehouse, at 11 High St (or 'Little High St') just south of Blaides Staithe and north of Drypool Bridge, exactly to the structural boundaries shown on old maps, but I think it was the Phoenix Warehouse of Spear, Houfe & Co. Ltd. There is some lettering on the building but it is difficult to make out much of it and there seem to have been at least two names written over each other in some places. One of these at the lower left could be 'Phoenix' and at top right it is more clearly 'E & Co Ltd'. There are a few distinct letters but not enough to make any sense of, and my photograph isn't quite as clear as it might be. The plate on the side is for W & T SPEAR Co Ltd, a company that owned a number of warehouses and commercial buildings in Hull.
The building was probably Victorian, possibly earlier, and was in poor condition; it was demolished not long after I took this picture. Had it remained standing a few more years it would have been listed, and if it were beside the Thames in London would doubtless have been converted into luxury flats. In Hull, the site remains empty over 30 years later and has only been used since demolition for car parking.
Peter Marshall
01784 456474