FOLLOWING the splendid reopening of Darlington library (Memories 643), an anonymous reader has sent in a very interesting Edwardian postcard which shows a very smoky mill chimney belching a grey cloud over the bookish palace and also shows the corner where Wilko’s superstore was until very recently.
Clearly visible on the corner is J Davison & Sons, painters & paperhangers shop.
This little shop stood on the corner until 1911 when it was replaced by The New Electric Empire Picture Palace, which was Darlington’s first purpose built cinema, which existed until 1960 after which it was replaced by the supermarket – wasn’t it Presto at one time? - which has latterly been Wilko’s.
The only other postcard view of this corner which we are aware of shows a portion shows the same little shop only it is occupied by Jack Johnson, a monumental mason and stone sculptor. Jack did the intricate stonework for the Technical College in Northgate, the King’s Head Hotel and the Boer War Memorial beside St Cuthbert’s Church.
Jack was also a keen singer, and formed the Aeolian Male Quartette. In 1933, the had the Co-op build him a home in an isolated position on the outskirts of Darlington where his quartette could rehearse to their heart’s content without having any neighbours to annoy. He called his new home Aeolian House and, of course, its isolated location (below) contributed to the mystery that surrounds the murder there on August 3, 1990, of Ann Heron.
Jack’s sculptor’s yard was on the corner opposite the library from 1900 until 1911 when the cinema was built, so Mr Davison must have had his painter’s shop there before that.
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A second postcard from our anonymous correspondent, to whom we are very grateful, suggests that the Davisons moved their business to Parkgate, near the Hippodrome. This postcard shows a trailer advertising local entertainments.
At the Hippodrome is a “supper revue” called Night Time Pleasures, starring Jack Henry, while two plays were being put on at the Phoenix Theatre in Union Street: Meet the Wife, which was a Broadway comedy written in 1923, and Sunlight and Shadow, written by English playwright Richard Carton in 1890.
We think the Phoenix Theatre was also known as the Little Theatre, and its premises were cleared in the late 1960s when the inner ring road was bulldozed through.
If you can tell us anymore, we’d love to hear from you…
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