Park Street, Bristol
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Park Street is a major shopping street in
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, England, linking the city centre to
Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
. It forms part of the
A4018 The A4018 is an A-road connecting the city centre of Bristol to the M5 motorway at Cribbs Causeway. It is one of the four principal roads which link central Bristol to the motorway network (the others being the M32 motorway, the A38 and the ...
. The building of Park Street started in 1761 and it was Bristol's earliest example of uniformly stepped hillside terracing. The street runs from
College Green College Green or The College Green may refer to: * College Green, Adelaide outdoor venue at the University of Adelaide * College Green, Bristol, England * College Green (Dartmouth College), New Hampshire, primarily known as "the Green" * College ...
up a steep incline northwards to join Park Row near the southern apex of the Clifton Triangle. Looking up the street there is a dramatic view of the
Wills Memorial Building The Wills Memorial Building (also known as the Wills Memorial Tower or simply the Wills Tower) is a neo-Gothic building in Bristol, England, designed by Sir George Oatley and built as a memorial to Henry Overton Wills III
.


History

The development of Park Street began in 1740 when the City Council leased land to Nathaniel Day, holder of
Bullock's Park Bullock's Park was an estate in Bristol, England between College Green, Bristol, College Green and Brandon Hill, Bristol, Brandon Hill. The last owner, Nathaniel Day, obtained permission to develop it in 1740 although building did not begin until ...
, to open a new street. Around that time, some houses were built on the north-east side of College Green, probably by
James Paty the Elder James Paty the Elder (sometimes spelled Patty) (died 1748) was an English mason, builder and architect. He was the first in a succession of members of the Paty family prominent in the building of 18th century Bristol Bristol () is a ...
. Around 1742 he was probably also involved in the development of adjacent Unity Street, where the use of stone facing and the rustication of the ground floor facades set a precedent for most of the later development in the Park Street area. In 1758 a design by George Tyndall was approved for Park Street to connect to Whiteladies Gate, one of the turnpikes. George Tully drew up plans and building started in 1761. The first phase of building finished at Great George Street around 1762. The upper part of the street was developed from about 1786 and work was suspended in the financial crisis of 1793, resumed and completed about ten years later. Much of the building throughout this period was by the firms owned by members of the Paty family, initially that of Thomas Paty, probably jointly with that of his brother James Paty the Younger. Thomas Paty's sons
William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...
joined his firm as partners in 1777. Developments by the Patys spread around Park Street to Great George Street, College Street, Denmark Street and Lodge Street and eventually from 1787 Charlotte Street,
Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Ke ...
, Berkeley Crescent and Upper Berkeley Place. A standard design by Thomas Paty was used for Park Street's houses. These had plain facades three windows wide, and as in the earlier Unity Street development they were faced in
Bath Stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
with a rusticated ground floor. The general conversion from housing to commercial premises since then, however, has meant the loss of the original ground floors; only No.51 retains its pediment, rustication and railings. The grander houses built c. 1762 by Thomas Paty on either side of the junction with Great George Street, in brick with stone dressings and with
pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...
s on their George Street facades, were an exception to the generally plain style. Park Street was Bristol's earliest example of uniformly stepped terracing. Stepping would become a common approach to hillside building in Clifton, for squares as well as terraces, a different approach to that taken in the nearby city of Bath. The Philosophical Institution, now Freemasons' Hall, was built by R.S. Pope for C.R. Cockerell in 1821. A cast-iron viaduct to take the street over the natural gully between College Green and
Brandon Hill Brandon Hill () is the highest mountain in County Kilkenny, Ireland, with an elevation of and prominence at . The South Leinster Way, a long-distance trail, meandering through the Barrow Valley and traverses Brandon Hill. The village of ...
was built by R.S. Pope in 1871. It is a grade II listed building. About a third of the buildings on Park Street suffered bombing on 24 November 1940 in the
Bristol Blitz The Bristol Blitz was the heavy bombing of Bristol, England by the Nazi German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Due to the presence of Bristol Harbour and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, the city was a target for bombing and was easi ...
: 30 were destroyed, 6 burnt out and another 3 severely damaged. Nearly all were later rebuilt and restored. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Park Street was designated for white troops from the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
. On the evening of 15 July 1944, black soldiers entered the area and fighting broke out between about 400 soldiers. 120 Military police broke up the fighting but one was stabbed. Several soldiers were shot and one died. The city was then placed under military curfew.


Park Street today

Park Street is now mainly retail and leisure premises. Among the more unusual businesses are the Bristol Folk House, an arts centre, and the
Bristol Guild of Applied Art The Bristol Guild of Applied Art, more commonly referred to within Bristol as simply The Guild, is a privately held department store on Bristol's Park Street in the UK. Founded in 1908, the Guild was inspired by the philosophy of William Morri ...
. In 1974 an IRA bombing injured 20 people. In 1976 a huge gas explosion destroyed some of the buildings near the bottom of the road; most were rebuilt as replicas. Some of the furnishings from the RMS Mauretania were installed in a bar and restaurant complex at the bottom of Park Street, initially called "Mauretania", now "Java". The lounge bar was the library with mahogany panelling: above the first-class Grand Saloon with French-style gilding overlooks Frog Lane. The neon sign on the south wall still advertises the "
Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, ...
": installed in 1938 this was the first moving neon sign in Bristol. It is a grade II
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. Visible from the viaduct, on the side of a building in Frogmore Street, is a controversial mural, named
Well Hung Lover ''Well Hung Lover'', also called ''Naked Man Hanging From Window'' and simply ''Naked Man'', is a mural by the anonymous street artist Banksy, on a wall in Frogmore Street, Bristol, England. Painted in 2006 on the side of a sexual health clin ...
. by local graffiti artist
Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigram ...
.
Antlers Gallery Antlers Gallery is a commercial gallery based in Bristol England. Created in 2010 by gallery Director Jack Gibbon, Antlers Gallery produces temporary exhibitions across varying locations, with their only permanent base being online. Dubbed the ' ...
used the space at Number 2, Park Street for their exhibition ''Uncanny Views'',http://www.antlersgallery.com/project/uncanny-views which ran from 10 February - 6 March 2011. In July 2011, Antlers Gallery returned to Number 2, Park Street to host their exhibition ''Anatomy''. This was launched as part of the Pride Bristol 2011.


Gallery

File:Parkstreetnight.jpg, A view down Park Street at night. File:Park Street explosion aftermath, 1976.jpg, Park Street explosion aftermath, 1976. File:Banksy-ps.jpg, Naked Man image by Banksy, on the wall of a sexual health clinic in Park Street. File:51 Park Street, Bristol.jpg, 51 Park Street, showing rusticated lower storey, railings, steps and pedimented doorway.


References


Sources

* Andrew Foyle, 'Pevsner Architectural Guides: Bristol', Yale University Press (2004) * Walter Ison, ''The Georgian Buildings of Bristol'', Kingsmead Press (1978) {{ISBN, 0-901571-88-1 Streets in Bristol History of Bristol Shopping streets in Bristol