Listed Building record MDR16032 - Former Textile Warehouse, Building 1, off Derby Road, Belper

Former Textile Warehouse, Building 1, off Derby Road, Belper, built c1802-1834. A historic building recording survey, including documentary research, map regression and a photographic survey, was carried out between 2022-2023. 'Historic mapping indicates that Building 1 was either rebuilt or extensively altered between the production of the 1844 tithe map and the Ordnance Survey map of 1880. Investigation of the structure indicates that the building was built in a single phase, with no evidence of the earlier building encountered. It is quite possible that this rebuilt was prompted by the fire of 1849 which is reported to have left the warehouse as a ‘mere shell’. As built Building 1 appears to have conformed closely to the plan of the works produced in 1880-1890 with open workshop / warehousing in the wings and offices in the centre… [In 1930] The works was converted to use as an oil refinery. There are minor changes to layout and circulation within the building that correspond to this period. Due to the degree of loss of internal fixtures and fittings prior to the commencement of this survey, it is not possible to further divide this phase. The creation of the entrance and lobby on the ground floor south-east elevation of Building 1 is likely to have taken place during this period, with the materials and design of changes suggestive of the inter-war period (rough machine-made brick and concrete in combination with timber sashes). No internal partitions, decoration or joinery was present at the time of survey, so it is uncertain to what degree those recorded by the metric survey prior to the commencement of development related to this phase. A fire in 1938 is reported to have started in the laboratories and to have destroyed both it and the general offices. Evidence of fire was observed in surviving timber wall blocks in Room 1F2, and it is assumed that the introduction of the steel girders in the west wing may also have been prompted by the fire, as too the removal of the pediment above the central bay.' (1) The building ceased being used as either an oil refinery or silkolene factory in c2000. (1) From the National Heritage List for England: 'DERBY ROAD 1. 5167 (East Side) Warehouse now occupied by Dalton & Co Lid Silkolene Lubricants SK 3447 3/132 II 2. Erected between l802 and 1834 (Nixon, Industrial Archaeology of Derbyshire pg 228). Originally a warehouse for the domestic framework knitting industry. Ashlar with moulded cornices to pedimented gable ends. Three storeys. Symmetrical facade with 21 windows, the centre 5 advanced, sashes with glazing bars. Eaves band and blocking course. Bands at 1st and 2nd floor sills. Centre pedimented stone porch. Interior said to have good staircase. Listing NGR: SK3470347133.' (2)