Citylife in Lichfield December 2022 January 2023

The City House
of Lichfield
By Jono Oates
Numbers 2, 2a and 4 on Lichfield’s Dam Street, next to Lloyds Bank, is one of
those classic buildings that is best viewed from a distance. The best viewing
spot is to stand in the Market Square, close to the statue of James Boswell,
and just gaze at the scope and height of this wonderful building to truly appreciate it.
A Grade II listed building, it was built around 1800 and has a typical Georgian building
design, with alterations to the shop fronts made at the end of the 19th century.
The building was known, for many decades, as City House, although that title is no longer
used. There used to be a large sign, placed just above the second-floor windows at the front
of the building, with the name City House on it. The sign can be seen on the vintage advert
for Francis Young Draper’s, taken in 1914.
Over the years, the three properties comprising City House have had a number of private
owners and shop businesses, but one of the most popular trades, from the middle of the 19th
century to the 1930s, was as a drapers. Mr J G peace ran a draper’s business from number 4
City House in the 1860s, and in April 1964 he was looking to recruit a draper’s assistant via
the Staffordshire Advertiser newspaper, appealing to ‘Parents and Guardians and looking for
a strong, active youth, about 14 years of age, as an apprentice for the Drapery trade, for a
term of four years. He will be treated in every respect as one of the family.’
William Norman, originally an upholsterer and cabinet maker from Leicester, took over at
number 4 as a draper in the 1870s and in 1880 he held his Annual Sale of Linen and Drapery
goods, with surplus stock from all departments offered at a ‘great reduction.’ Norman was
succeeded by two drapers in the early 1880s as business partners, Messrs Alfred Smyrk and
Alfred Bradbury who announced, in June 1883, that they had a large assortment of ‘the
newest and most fashionable goods’. As well as drapery and household items they could also
provide all furnishings for funerals, as well as being agents for sewing machines, with a 5%
discount offered for cash sales. In 1891 Alfred Smryk, then aged 53, was living, and working,
at number 4 along with his wife, Elizabeth, their son, a draper’s assistant, a cashier, a cook, a
housemaid and two draper’s apprentices, one of whom was 18-year-old Charles Hayes.
By the end of the 19th century Smyrk and Bradbury became Bradbury and Hayes, with
Bradbury now living at number 4 and his younger partner, Charles Hayes, now a qualified
draper, living at number 2. In 1901, Hayes’ next-door-neighbour was a certain William
Wordsworth… however not the noted poet, but the Scottish bank manager at Lloyds Bank!
Bradbury and Hayes proudly announced in May 1905 that they had secured the services of
an expert cutter and fitter for their Ladies’ Tailoring Section, that he had unique experience
of London and Continental tailoring, and that he had come direct from the well-known firm
of Debenham and Freebody, Wigmore Street, London. The store later became part of the
Debenhams chain. They also announced their ‘specialité’ for Summer 1905, the Soap-Shrunk
Flannel Suit, tailor-built and fitted for just 50 shillings complete – just £2.50 in today’s money.
Mr Francis Young, another draper, took over from Bradbury and Hayes in 1907 at numbers
2 and 4 City House. As previous drapers had done, Francis Young sold sewing machines, as
well as ladies’ fashions and in 1908 he could supply Frister and Rossmann’s ‘celebrated’
sewing machines, which claimed to be ‘the best value in the world at the lowest prices.’ In
June 1913 Winterton and Son offered City House up for auction, describing it as a freehold
property in a prominent position, and realising £130 per annum under lease. The auction
commenced with a bid of £1,500 for the whole of the City House building, but it was later
withdrawn, when it had reached £1,800.
Wilding and Co took over City House in the early 1920, selling a range of household and
fashion items, and in December 1926 they were offering ‘choice and distinctive’ Christmas
gifts, including handkerchiefs, gloves, hosiery, ties, men’s half-hose, motor muffs, motor rugs
and cushions etc.
Today number 2,2a and 4 Dam Street is occupied by ABD Carpets, the Courtyard Fine Art
Gallery and also by Fortescues ladies’ fashion shop, continuing the long-standing tradition of
ladies’ fashion, drapers and milliners at one of Lichfield’ grandest Georgian buildings – City
House.
Workshop, Chamberlin and Hill, 1950s
Tuke and Bell Workers, 1970
Lichfield Foundry, Sandford Street, 1967
*Vintage photographs courtesy of the St Mary’s
Photographic Collection
Sources: The British Newspaper Archive;
Ancestry.co.uk; www.tukeandbell.co.uk.
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