When George Allen died in 1847, his business was
carried on by his pupil Henry Stock, who had been in
Allen's office from 1840 until 1846. Stock entered into
partnership with William Snooke and set up at 69
Tooley Street, which was Allen's old
office. For much of the 1850's the practice was known as
Allen, Snooke and Stock, only becoming Snooke and Stock
after 1856. William Snooke was principally a
surveyor, though he described himself as 'Architect &
Surveyor', and is credited with designing the warehouse
at Cotton's Wharf in which Tooley Street Fire started.
He took over from Allen the post of District Surveyor
for Rotherhithe and Hatcham and held it until his death
in 1883. The assistance of a surveyor was obviously very
useful to Stock in a practice which was mainly concerned
with industrial buildings.
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The Changing Face of London |
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Where 69 Tooley Street would
have stood |
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(now a shopping area with
pavement cafes) |
Henry Stock seems to have been a capable architect.
His friend, Edward I'Anson, President of the R.I.B.A.
described him as 'an able designer and one of the most
honourable men of business with whom I am acquainted'.
In addition to his post as parish surveyor to St.
Olave's, Bermondsey, Stock was appointed County Surveyor
for Essex in 1857 (in succession to Thomas Hopper) and
surveyor to the Haberdashers' Company in 1882. These
public offices brought him a substantial amount of work.
In 1851 he designed new buildings in the Tudor style for
St Olave's Grammar School, which were demolished in 1892
to make way for more elaborate buildings by Edward
Mountford, still surviving on the north side of Tooley
Street. For the Haberdashers' Company he designed Aske's
Hatcham Girls School and also St. Catherine's church and
vicarage at Hatcham. But the main work of his
partnership was industrial and commercial buildings and
the firm's work includes Peek Frean's Biscuit Factory in
Bermondsey, warehouse and offices at the Anchor Brewery
in the Mile End Road, Young's Brewery in Wandsworth and
the rebuilding of Cotton's Wharf after the 1861 fire.
George Allen's connection with the Humphrey family
continued in two major groups of warehouses at Hay's
Wharf and at Hibernia Wharf on the west side of London
Bridge.
The preferred style for 19th century
institutional buildings, whether schools, hospitals or
almshouses, was Elizabethan. Stock proved himself
competent in this style, but for his commercial
buildings he kept to the tradition established by Allen
and made no attempt to introduce Elizabethan or Gothic
detail. At Hay's Wharf the offices and tea auction rooms
are entirely classical with a slight Italianate flavour.
The elevations of the warehouses either side are treated
as long arcades of extremely tall round-headed arches
standing on a basement which is also pierced by arches.
The same treatment was later used for rebuilding of
Cotton's Wharf and despite the irregular layout of these
two vast groups of warehouses, the motif of the tall
arcades gives them a measure of architectural unity.
Henry Stock's son, again named Henry
Stock, joined the firm in the 1880's
and designed Upper Thames Street and the Hamberg/American
Line Building in Cockspur Street, off Trafalgar Square.
In 1906 Robert Page joined the firm and it was
then that the firm was appointed as official Surveyors for the
Haberdashers' Livery Company and other Estates around
London and became known as Stock Page Stock.
The letterhead at that time stated 'Stock Page &
Stock, Architects, Surveyors and Industrial Planning
Consultants'
The firm had offices at 207 New
Cross Road in South London and
Wren House, Portsmouth Road, Esher until the
1980's. In fact, Henry Stock junior designed Fairlawn
Mansions, of New Cross Road, which was built for
the Haberdashers' Company in the 1880's for the
deserving poor of London, and is
still managed by Stock Page Stock today. The Company
moved to Old Street, London, EC1 in the early 1980's and then in 1997
moved to offices at Aldersgate Street,
London, EC1.
In June 2008 we moved further
up the road to our current office at 83 Goswell Road,
London, EC1:
Since the commencement of the 1990's the firm
of Stock Page Stock has been actively involved as
Valuers, Estate Agents and in particular property
management in the Barbican and Golden Lane Estate. Stock
Page Stock's office is in the vicinity of both these Estates.
History of Golden Lane Estate >>
History of Barbican >>
Although many of our managed
properties have been sold on to different Freeholders
down through the years, Stock Page Stock still
manages blocks of flats originally designed and built by
the Company for the Haberdashers' Society, nine of these
being 100 years old in 2005. As stated above,
our Company has been managing a block in New Cross Road
for getting on for 130 years.
We believe that over a 100 continuous years of
managing the same blocks is a record in London.
Should
you have any queries or suggestions please don’t
hesitate to
contact us by phone or e-mail.
