A Short History Of Page Calnan
EJW
The history of Page Calnan Builders merchants of Essex and East London is not well documented in this first quarter of the 21st century, but in their heyday 100 years ago they were a big going concern. The firm’s headquarters was in Barking in Town Quay, with a river frontage on Barking Creek. PHOTO
They had offices at 185 Cannon Street Road and 159 Commercial Street EC1 PHOTO, handy for London Docks, and the furniture workshops of Shoreditch.
Their branch in Hornchurch High Street was demolished in the late 1970s for the building of what is now Sainsburys. Their depot at Leigh on Sea remained until the 1980s . PHOTO
The photograph of the Commercial Road office is from just before the outbreak of WWII. Note the fine neo classical roundels, the Dutch gable and the proportions of the range of three upper windows.
The date 1908, and the art nouveau lettering declaring their name and their trade. And their name repeated in the glass below the curved window lights. And that they have for sale Sherwoods paints another old established Barking company (est. 1777).
This was a time when the country and commerce had confidence in their institution, in their products and services and their future. They had every reason to think that they were in that building to stay. 159 may have survived the blitz but a different building serves Milan Fashion handbags now. If 185 Cannon Street Road is the original building there is no obvious trace of an earlier business on the frontage.
That confidence in their trade and longevity was evident when their Romford deport was built some time in the early 1930s (according to the LB Havering Heritage register 1933) That register describes it as “having many of the architectural features of the 1930s”
222-226 South St, Romford, RM1 2AD.
The style we now call Art Deco wasn’t called by that name then; when it was new it was sometimes called ‘moderne’ or a sleek form was ‘streamline moderne’.
In England it became colloquially known as ‘Odeon’ style as many new cinemas followed the principles. The recently demolished and lamented Towers cinema in Hornchurch was a fine example. Geometric forms, long sleek lines ending in a curve. Pale materials, often highly polished.
You can see this on 222 South Street with the polished cream stone frontage over the brick construction at the front.
And the glory of the building, the name of the company and purpose of the building in blue and cream mosaic on the two sides that face the road. P&C Ltd, Page Calnan Ltd, Builders Merchants, Romford Depot. 30 years after 159 Commercial Road was built the font is a more austere classical font, suitable for the new age.
That confidence in their trade and longevity was evident when their Romford deport was built some time in the early 1930s (according to the LB Havering Heritage register 1933) That register describes it as “having many of the architectural features of the 1930s”
The Diocletian Window
And classical is the other important feature, not visible from the road, the Diocletian window in the back gable.
The Institute of Classical Architecture describes the form as “a large semi-circular arch divided into three sections by two thick vertical mullions.” It is a simple idea, but they are not that common and are more often associated with prestigious public buildings.
The Diocletian window is named after the windows in the Baths of Diocletian in Rome now the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Sometimes called thermal windows because they were used in the ancient Roman baths as a way of flooding a large open internal space with as much light as possible.
Page and Calnan obviously wanted to showcase the quality of their products by demonstrating them in the structure of the building. Polished stone, fine quality mosaics, a classical font and an imaginative classical window at the back. Flooding the main warehouse with light, perhaps for the precision cutting of timber, or mixing shades of paint.
When the firm ceased trading in building materials the building has been a restaurant, under several names and types of cuisine.
Do you have any memories of buying wood, bricks, timber and suchlike from Page Calnan in Romford or elsewhere? It would be good to gather more of the history and place in Romford’s commercial life of these significant premises. Contact Us
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