Category: Scanned Negatives

Halifax Decorations

I must have taken this photograph of Horton Street in Halifax, and the fine spire of Square Church, sometime in the mid to late 1960s. It was at a time when Halifax was still at the shabby end of the shabby-chic continuum. In order to advertise his credentials, the decorator who inhabited the upper parts … Continue reading Halifax Decorations

Style And Charm

I must have taken this photograph in the mid 1970s: it shows Commercial Street in Halifax, looking towards Wards End and the, then, new headquarters of the Halifax Building Society. There is a sharp contrast in architectural styles: on one side of Commercial Street are the late Victorian facades of shops and commercial premises, whilst … Continue reading Style And Charm

Change And The Wool Merchant

For more than a century a wool merchant has dominated the junction of King Street and Mulcture Hall Road in Halifax. For most of that time the building was the premises of the wool merchant business of H Holdsworth, but more recently it has been the home of the Wool Merchant Hotel. Whether trade or … Continue reading Change And The Wool Merchant

The Green, Green Grass Of …. Rhodes Street

This is the last of this particular batch of photographs from fifty or so years ago, taken in the Rhodes Street area of Halifax. Like the other four, it shows the area around Gibbet Street in Halifax shortly before redevelopment. Looking back at these five photographs, it shows a different Halifax, one caught in the … Continue reading The Green, Green Grass Of …. Rhodes Street

Finding Faith In Rhodes Street

As I continue my exploration of the area around Rhodes Street, Halifax - time travel by courtesy of a series of photographs I took almost fifty years ago - I find faith on Rhodes Street. Before too much celebration is embarked upon for the salvation of my lost soul, let me add that the faith … Continue reading Finding Faith In Rhodes Street

Gas Lights And Atmosphere

I know I have featured this particular image from my negative archives before, but I like it, so I will wheel it out again. I took it almost fifty years ago and it is one of the street around Rhodes Street, which ran (and, indeed, still runs) between Gibbet Street and Hopwood Lane in Halifax. … Continue reading Gas Lights And Atmosphere

Abandon Hope

I read somewhere that the Vikings called their new discovery Greenland in full knowledge that it was anything but green, but in the hope that it might attract settlers. The same principles were obviously used by nineteenth century town developers who gave endless rows of smoke-black terraces names such as Paradise Street and Bellevue Road. … Continue reading Abandon Hope

Goods Composition

North Bridge, Halifax used to have two stations: a passenger railway station on one side, and a goods station on the other. The goods station, which stood where North Bridge Leisure Centre was later built, was closed in 1960, but the buildings remained - in a somewhat dilapidated state - for a further fifteen or … Continue reading Goods Composition

That Was, This Is …. Halifax

Looking through my negative archives, certain scenes keep recurring. One is this view of Bank Bottom in Halifax. I have photographs of it in rain and shine, with or without added bursts of industrial steam. At times the background of mill chimneys and church spires stand out like a fist of sore thumbs, at other … Continue reading That Was, This Is …. Halifax