It’s difficult to believe that the Council have nodded through a scheme which will have an adverse effect on one of Sheffield’s most important buildings. Love it or loathe it, the University Arts Tower is listed Grade II* and has dominated the skyline since the 1970s.
Just across the road stands the Star and Garter pub which has been serving pints since Victorian times. This and an adjoining Chinese takeaway are to be swept away and replaced by a 16 storey tower block which will be in direct competition with the iconic Arts Tower totally detracting from its current ‘stand alone’ stance. The phrase ‘stealing its thunder’ springs to mind.
The proposed new tower will house 250 students (just what we need) and have its own gym, library and cinema. Sheffield is awash with ne student developments and surely we must now be reaching saturation point. Thirty eight local residents who will be overlooked sent in letters of objection and these are only the ones who bothered to write in. No one seems to have mentioned the adverse effect on Weston Park and the lovely Victorian Hospital complex next door.
Grade II listed Winter St. Hospital opened in 1881 at a cost of £20,000 and was specifically built to handle smallpox cases and other infectious diseases. In 1898 eight cottages were built in nearby Dart Square which were used by people who had been in contact with infectious patients. Sadly these cottages are now long gone. In 1912 the hospital concentrated on those suffering from TB and all other cases were moved to Lodge Moor Hospital. During the First World War it became a military base hospital returning to its role as a TB sanatorium after peace was declared. It was eventually renamed St. George’s Hospital and concentrated on geriatric patient care. It is now home to Sheffield University’s Faculty of Law Dept – which probably explains a lot.
What is the thinking behind destroying a pleasant Victorian pub, the setting of a Victorian Park and Hospital and at the same time ruining the skyline and demeaning a Grade II* building of national importance? Answers on a postcard please.
I would point out that all local Councillors objected to this monstrosity which is completely out place in that site. Unfortunately the Government will not reform planning law to allow local people to say no to this type of development.
After the Grenfell tower disaster this week they should be seriously reconsidering building more tower blocks at all.
Just for accuracy – I am not a local resident but I walk this way every day and love the arts tower – so not everyone who complained was a local resident, and I also tried to encourage others to object. I read that there were around 60 objections.
I also don’t think the ‘just what we need’ comment about students is fair or appropriate here. You cannot live within seconds of the University and complain about students, who do a great deal for this city’s economy, reputation and atmosphere.
All this aside I am in complete agreement that this tower is a terrible idea and that another, more suitable location, should have been found. I am concerned about what this will do to the foot traffic on the area, as well as ruining the arts tower’s standing.
Well Howard I didn’t think you were in the position of a defender of Chinese Take Away’s after some recent comments !
The Star and Garter has been on the downwards path for some years now ever since its etched windows were removed without comment or protest that I am aware of by anyone except James Birkett the legendary figure who provides the best watering holes in Sheffield.
I am afraid the Star and Garter no longer looks anything like the picture in this Blog.
Its time has come just as a far more historic pub- the Old Blue Ball in Hillsborough- did recently.