Streets of Norwich – Recorder Road
Part of my Streets of Norwich project….
Recorder Road is a relatively new street in Norwich, winding its way through what was until the early twentieth century a distillery and vinegar works. It is L-shaped and connects Horsefair to Prince of Wales Road.
As the road is relatively new, there’s not a great of historic interest along here, with this being the road from the Prince of Wales Road end.
The Greek Orthodox Church, which was built for the Christian Scientists in 1934 and was designed by Herbert G Ibberson to seat 300 people. I’ve never thought it was particularly exciting architecturally, but it is a listed building as it’s apparently notable for its Arts and Crafts style of design
There’s a walkway which connects through to the River Wensum riverside footpath.
This is where it gets more exciting, when we approach Horsefair, and it’s Stuart Court. These are almshouses which were constructed in 1914 and are listed buildings noted for their Dutch-style design.
The plaque reads “these housen were built in the year 1915 in memory of James Stuart, Privy Councillor born at Balgonie, Scotland, 1843. Sometime a citizen of Norwich died at Carrow Abbey 1913”. I’m going to post about that word ‘housen’ in another post, it should be used more…..
A media report at the time noted that “these cottages are two-storied and designed on the flat principle, since owing to the preciousness of land it is impossible to build this class of dwelling economically on any other plan. Each storey, therefore, forms a complete and entirely private home, planned on thoroughly hygienic lines and fitted up in a way which is too rarely met with houses designed for persons of such small means. A wash-house is provided, for instance, containing a tip-up bath, a copper with a patent steam extractor, and many other useful features; while every building is supplied with gas pipes, and in each wash-house space has been left for a gas cooker, tenants being allowed to install a slot meter or not as they wish”.
Once again, I’ve managed to pay no attention to this despite walking by it hundreds of times.
This plaque is inside the entranceway to the gardens constructed in 1922, with the gardens also being named after James Stuart. This is the third listed building on Recorder Road, impressive since everything on it is twentieth century (or this century I suppose). The gardens and the gateway were designed by Edward Boardman, who died in 1910, showing how long this took to be finished.
Some rather nice gardens, very peaceful.
One mystery I haven’t been able to answer, I don’t know why it’s called Recorder Road. I’m sure it’s obvious, but it’s gone over my head.
