Where buildings are concerned, the fashion for certain styles and building materials change almost as much as in the clothing industry. In the 70s and 80s, cladding was all the rage; in the 60s it was pebble dash, and pre-fabs were popping up everywhere in the 40s and 50s.
But in the 1920s and 30s, concrete was the big innovation. Builders were pouring concrete everywhere, using all kinds of mixtures to give a blanket colour effect on buildings without the need for paint.
When G & T Earle’s cement works in Wilmington, East Hull, closed down in 1970, some remarkable records were found at the abandoned site, which eventually made their way into the East Riding Archives in Beverley. Now, recent work by the staff there has allowed these records to be re-discovered, revealing the impact that the company had on the buildings of Hull and East Yorkshire in the 1930s.
Two photograph albums, preserved in the archives at the Treasure House, Beverley, show the many different buildings and construction projects that used the ‘Pelican’ brand of concrete produced by Earle’s Cement.
In Hull this included Albert Avenue Baths, Queens Gardens, The Avenue Hotel, temporary shops on Ferensway, and elsewhere in East Yorkshire; Goole Water Tower, Bridlington Reservoir, and the Caves by-pass on the Hull-Selby trunk road.
Collections Officer, Sam Bartle said: “Earle’s concrete was used everywhere in the East Riding during the 1930s, but the albums also show that their cement products and processes were used nationwide, from Blackpool Pleasure Beach to Nuneaton.”
The Earle’s Cement Products & Processes photograph albums have been catalogued and can now be viewed on request in the Archives searchroom at the Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley.
