Summary
Cabmen’s shelter, built between 1914 and 1918 to a design based upon Maximilian Clarke's ‘ornamental’ shelter of 1882 for the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund.
Reasons for Designation
The Wellington Place Cabmen’s Shelter listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its distinctive ornamental design and well-executed carpentry work;
* as an example of the distinctive shelters erected by the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund, built to slightly modified designs of Maximilian Clarke’s ‘ornamental’ cabin design of 1882.
Historic interest:
* as a rare and well-preserved relic of London’s Hansom Cab trade and the philanthropic Cabmen’s Shelter Fund, established in 1875 to provide roadside cabins for the welfare of Cabmen on the ranks.
Group value:
* with other buildings in the St John’s Wood Conservation Area, including the Grade II*-listed Church of St John the Baptist, on the south side of the public gardens.
History
The Cabmen’s Shelter Fund (CSF) was established in London in January 1875 for the purpose of supplying cabmen on the ranks with a place of shelter where they could rest and order refreshments. In the late C19, the drivers of London’s horse-drawn hansom cabs were constantly exposed to the elements and were prohibited by law from leaving the rank when waiting for custom. Consequently, many took shelter in pubs between trips, which had a tendency to lead them to ‘drink more than is good for their health or behaviour’, as the Illustrated London News of 20 February 1875 reported. The idea of providing shelters on the ranks was first conceived in 1874 by Captain George C Armstrong, editor of The Globe newspaper. When Armstrong’s servant was unable to obtain a cab during a storm because the drivers had all sought refuge in local pubs, he decided to band together a group of wealthy and influential philanthropists to provide a solution. Under the presidency of the Earl of Shaftsbury, and with the support of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), the Duke of Westminster and the writer George Moore amongst others, the Fund began constructing small cabins along many major thoroughfares for the benefit of London’s cabmen. The first was a moveable shelter on Acacia Road in St John’s Wood, two streets to the north of the present Wellington Place shelter in St John’s Wood. This was built in February 1875 to a simple design, consisting of a part-glazed timber panelled box with a shallow-pitched roof and canted end bays, without any notable decorative features.
Later shelters designed by prominent architects became more sophisticated. By 1879, George Aitchison was appointed as the first Honorary Architect to the Fund and a more detailed type of design was established. A long since lost example outside the Law Courts on The Strand (photographed in the late C19) with an ornate hipped and double-tiered roof integrating a thin clerestory and decorative finials appears to reflect Aitchison’s influence. Also established under Aitchison was the standard rectangular framework for shelters. Some of these key design tropes were further developed by the architect Maximilian Clarke, who was responsible for the form of what became the most recognisable ‘ornamental’ shelter type, as it was known. This type was distinguished by its hipped roof with gablets and ornamental dormers, overhanging eaves with exposed rafters, central louvered ventilation lantern and decorative fretwork panels bearing the ‘CSF’ monogram. Following a competition in 1881, Clarke’s firm (Harvey and Clarke) were appointed to design the Northumberland Avenue shelter. This was built in 1882 as the first example of this new shelter type. However, the existing shelter is replacement of 1915 to the same design, positioned close to the site of the original (shown in a late C19 photograph of Northumberland Avenue). The design emerged as the standard shelter type under Clarke’s direction of the Fund, following his appointment alongside Aitchison as joint Honorary Architect in 1884.
The building of new shelters continued throughout the 1880s, although started to tail off towards the end of the century: between 1890 and 1911 the focus shifted towards upkeep and repair of existing cabins and consequently only seven new structures were built over the period, this taking the operating number to its peak of 47. Owing to the relatively small number of new shelters being built around the turn of the century, there was no attempt to make anything more than modest alterations to the 1882 prototype, despite Clarke being succeeded as the Honorary architect in 1898 by M Starmer Hack. A small number of replacement shelters were constructed up until 1918, deriving from Clarke’s design. The rebuilt Wellington Place shelter was one of these shelters, built at some stage between 1914 and 1918, making it one of the last shelters to be built by the CSF, reflecting the longevity of the Clarke’s design of 1882.
Over the course of the C20 most London cabmens' shelters were lost. Owing to their positions in relatively exposed sites, generally on or in the middle of key thoroughfares, the shelters were prone to damage from traffic and vandalism and also vulnerable to the impacts of metropolitan road-widening schemes. Of the 61 shelters known to have been built between 1875 and 1950 only 13 now survive. Included in this number is the Wellington Place shelter, which continues to serve London’s taxi cab drivers and is overseen and maintained by the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund. The internal fixtures and fittings have been largely modernised and the boarded ceiling enclosed in recent years, although the galley kitchen and bench arrangement remains.
Details
Cabmen’s shelter, built between 1914 and 1918 to a design based upon Maximilian Clarke's ‘ornamental’ shelter design of 1882 for the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund.
MATERIALS: oak frame with deal cladding, painted 'Buckingham green'. Shingle tiles to the hipped roof with lead sheet covering to the lantern.
PLAN: rectangular footprint, with open-plan galley kitchen and communal cabmen’s mess section with benches set against the walls.
EXTERIOR: shelter of seven framed bays with three end bays, set on an elevated platform. The posts and rails of the timber frame are expressed with panels of vertical boarding set between. The entrance door is on the south-east side with a central serving window from the kitchen galley to the south-west end. Square-headed, six-light windows with glazing bars and pivoting hopper lights above are distributed evenly along both sides of the shelter; two sets to the entrance side flanking the door and a trio on the opposing side, of which the northern pair have been painted over. The south end has a central window, matching those to the side elevations. Fretwork panels bearing the ‘CSM’ monogram embellished with ribboned garlands are set below the eaves course, positioned alternately between window bays on the sides of the shelter. The roof is half-hipped and has overhanging eaves with exposed joists. Gablets with decorative fretwork panels are set to the ends and to each side, and a square, louvered ventilation lantern flanked by a further pair of gablets in the centre of the ridge is capped with a tented rooflet. The tethering poles affixed to the shelter are later replacements.
INTERIOR: fittings are mostly modern, although the basic arrangement of a galley kitchen and serving hatch with a cabmen’s communal section at the opposing end is still in evidence. Replacement bench tops and seating are fitted in the cabmen’s mess section. A hatch to the ventilation lantern is retained in the centre of the later suspended ceiling.
