Grand designs of the school furney

18th Century

A substantial three-storey townhouse, built before 1750, dominated the corner.

September 30, 1797

John Pease, the eldest son of Edward “Father of the Railways” Pease, was born in the house (his brother, Joseph, whose statue stands in High Row was also born here, in 1799). John worked in the family woollen mill and then as a director of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, although he was best known as a Quaker preacher – his nickname was “The Silver Trumpet of the North”.

1860s

John, now living in the East Mount mansion, set up a shop in Northgate to provide books published by the Religious Tract Society to schools.

1870

The famous Education Act encouraged the setting up of new schools. The Northgate shop was inundated with requests for books – and also for furniture to go in the new schools.

1876

The Darlington School Furniture Company was formed to cater for the new demand. It opened a railside factory in Kinross Street, off East Mount Road, to build furniture.

1878

Darlington council bought the 18th Century townhouse and demolished it to widen the entrance to Coniscliffe Road.

January 28, 1889

Fire broke out in furniture factory. “Telephonic communication” was made to the fire station in the cellar beneath the Covered Market. The town clock bell was rung to summon the firemen. They took their horsedrawn steam-powered pump to battle the flames. However, the ringing of the bell had alerted 3,000 townspeople to the drama. They sheltered from the heat of the flames against a factory wall which, at 10.30pm, collapsed on top of them, killing five men, aged from 18 to 61.

“Their heads and faces were totally unrecognisable, and their trunks had been beaten into a horrible misshapen mess,” said the Echo. Fifteen others were badly injured, and it was resolved afterwards never to ring the town clock bell again in times of fire – a runner was employed to knock-up the firemen.

1894

The North of England School Furnishing Company now had a showroom in London, and it built for schools across the country. It even sold “the famous Darlington slateboards, believed to be the most perfect, handy and durable boards ever offered to the scholastic profession”, according to an advert. “The Darlington boards do not reflect the light, they are unbreakable by slate, and not liable to warp or crack.” Does anyone still have a Darlington slateboard anywhere?

1895

The thriving company wanted a grand showroom. It commissioned Darlington’s greatest architect, GG Hoskins – responsible for the library, the King’s Head, the technical college, the sixth form college, Middlesbrough Town Hall etc – to design it.

June 23, 1897

On Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee day, the company opened its “handsome and imposing” showroom. “The building is in a semi-Queen Anne style of architecture of grey clamped bricks with tawny buff terracotta dressings,” said the Darlington & Stockton Times. It is a classic example of Hoskins’ art which gives Darlington such a distinctive feel.

Amid the speeches on the opening day, there were boasts about how the company employed nearly 200 people in the town. “Some of their specialities had found their way to India, Ceylon, Australia, China and Japan, and some adjustable desks had been purchased by the King of Siam,” said the Echo.

1909

The company patented the Darlington Blackboard which swung “around a vertical rod upon which it can be raised or lowered, is pivoted about two sliding brackets which can be clamped in any position on a vertical rod”. It sounds like you needed a physics degree to work out how to use the Darlington Blackboard but it was sold around the world: schools in the Falkland Islands, Hong Kong, India, Burma and Syria were equipped with them.

1940s

The company had acquired its nickname, “the school furney” (or “furnie”). It employed 250 men in Darlington and had two factories in Newcastle, and was opening another in Newton Aycliffe.

October 11, 1947

Another fire broke out at the furney factory in East Mount Road. “Clouds of dense black oily smoke and flames shooting up at twice the height of the buildings attracted large crowds of sight-seers and police reinforcements had to be called out to control them,”said the Evening Despatch – people never learn. There were no fatalities this time, although the £100,000 bill put the furney under extreme financial pressure.

1954

The furney left its grand showroom at the top of Blackwellgate.

1957

Lloyds Bank refitted the showroom as its Skinnergate branch. “The spacious banking hall has a linoleum-finished concrete floor and fluorescent lighting which gives an overall glow of light without glare,” said the D&S Times.

1970

The furney – now known as Nesco – slipped into receivership. A Peterborough company took it over, which kept the 188 employees in East Mount Road and Aycliffe in work – although their numbers soon dwindled.

1981

Both factories closed, making the last 50 furniture-makers redundant.

2014

Lloyds Bank left the former furney showroom at the top of Blackwellgate.

2016

Hoskins’ Grade II listed building was auctioned with a guide price of £250,000. A trio of Darlington-born property entrepreneurs – David and Paul Pearson, and Paul Lefevre – invest £500,000 into turning it into a cocktail bar and lounge with a dancefloor, and apartments above. The cocktail bar, named Number One, has just opened, bringing one of Darlington’s finest Victorian buildings back to life.