Spon End

Even the broken glass on the end property is the same Apols perhaps we should move this post to the Butts thread?

Would I be right in thinking that the Photo is taken from a Balcony in 'Givens' House, with the 2 Storey Maisonette Block being Corrie House, which was extended with 3 extra Dwellings in 1965. Therefore the Photo pre-dates that.

More crackers from © Elizabeth Tyler's collection from 1963. Collecting coal possibly? I'll bet her front step was kept scrubbed! Little clues as to the location but I'm adding here as I suspect it's possibly Moat Street or around there............ Thoughts anyone?

There is a significant change in the building line on the left, allowing space for parking outside the first 3 storey buildings, so possibly not Moat Street.

Re 439 of Hillfields topic, I spent some time on BFA looking for topshops with 2 story lean-to extensions and I could find none in Hillfields. EPW001197 of 1920 covers the York Road area but there is nothing post war and it is too grainy to identify exact the location from. (Edit) After a second look the location is below the Prince of Wales pub. Post war, the two story houses to the left of the buildings in 459 have gone and the 2 far right ones nearest The Butts/Queens Road are also missing. I wonder where those two kids are now from such a humble start?

Not the sort of lady you'd want to fall out with I'm sure, heaven help you if you met her on a dark night

Cooper Collection -

©Another thanks to the Coventry Smorgasbord FB page - The chapel of St. Christopher and St. James, Spon Street. March 1940. Look how usable a building it still was then!

Thanks Neil and Coventry Smorgasbord. Just before the photo was taken they had renovated the building. There are highly detailed before and after plans and elevations of the building at the Herbert archive. This type of work was going on all over the city and must have gutted the teams involved when all the work was destroyed.

Here's a great new find from FB. It's Albion Street looking North in 1961 - when we had proper winter's by the looks of it!! It goes nicely with my former post #200 which was looking the other way so we have the full length of the Street captured. That would be the junction with Moat St mostly out of shot on the very left. The Albion Inn ahead and to the left on the corner with Thomas Street and ahead you can just see where it ran in to Crow Lane at the crossing of the Sherbourne with a bit of the GEC faded to the rear right -

That's a cracker and a very 60s winter. Not quite the corner of Moat Street though. The building on the corner was 2 storey. The next one was probably 3 storey but was damaged by the war. I think that this first building on the left was 35 and 36. 37 was a return to 2 storey. The railings on the right would have been number 19, which you can also see on the picture at post #200.

Thanks as ever Helen! I can always spot a not-seen before piccy though Looking at the 1950 map I can see the run between Moat St and the Pub is not long enough. Also the arched entrance in to the Court as per the one on post#200 is missing. I sometimes get so keen to post up I miss the detail!

Another excellent FB post from the Coventry Smorgasbord FB page - SPON END "hooligans" are tearing down the ancient Chapel of St. James and St. Christopher, near Spon Bridge, Coventry, and unless £500 is spent on urgent repairs to the old building it will soon be a complete ruin. This point is made in the annual report of Coventry City Guild to be presented at the Guild's annual meeting on Thursday. A deputation from the Guild has inspected the Chapel with a view to offering suggestions for its preservation, and one idea is that it should be made into an old peoples' club. Cost of adaption to this purpose would cost at least £2,000. The Committee unanimously agree that the precincts of the Chapel would make an admirable garden and they would particularly like to see some improvement in the treatment of the triangular patch in front of the Chapel known locally as the "god-cake." "RIGHT ATMOSPHERE" "With regards to the buildings themselves," says a report, "the Committee are again in entire agreement that any attempt to restore these to their original condition would be as ludicrous, as not only is there insufficient evidence of that state, but it has been abundantly proved that attempted reproduction of period buildings cannot possibly succeed in catching the right atmosphere. "The alternatives are either to repair the structure sufficiently to preserve it, otherwise treating it frankly as a ruin, or to find some useful purpose for which the buildings could be adapted. The Committee favour the second alternative as more likely to ensure the preservation and appreciation of the Chapel, and consider it could be sympathetically treated to form a very charming group .... "At present the building forms a happy hunting ground for the hooligans of the neighbourhood, who will soon reduce it to a complete ruin by tearing out the internal walls and supports, and some attention is, therefore, urgently needed." - February 1939. I especially like that first image as its shows the pre-development layout to include what was then known as Spon Causeway (going off to the right ) which led in to Doe Bank Lane. You can also see that in the Cooper collection image I added in post #253.