Karlsruhe House 18 Queens Bridge Road


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Hi Everyone.

I'm new and i'm really hoping someone can help.

I work in Karlsruhe House at 18 Queens Bridge Road.

I'm trying to find out some history of the building to be displayed inside our new office on the 2nd floor of Karlsruhe House. But I cannot find anything about the building online or via Nottingham CC.

Can anyone help?

When was it built? What was it built for? Any old pictures of the building? Has it always been called Karlsruhe House? I did find a planning document from 1988 that called the building Gerrard Gamble

building

Many thanks

Darren.

1790210_68769292.jpg

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I think this is the building where my maternal grandfather worked. In his later adult life, he worked for a firm of cigar makers which I believe was named Sydney Pullinger. Grandad worked in the accounts department but had apparently worked his way up from the shop floor, having been employed in the tobacco industry all his life.

As a child, I remember passing this building on the bus with my mother and she always pointed it out as the place where her father had worked and she always pointed to the window on the top floor above the entrance door which was apparently his office, so presumably she must have been there at some point.

My grandfather decided not to retire when he reached the age of 65 and continued to work in this building until he was at least 70 which would have been in 1953. One of the perks of the job was that he had boxes of cigars every so often and I recall as a child, because he lived with us, the stench of cigar smoke filling the house. When he wasn't smoking cigars, he smoked a pipe.

like many men of his generation, grandad wore shirts with detachable collars. These fell into two types: flat collars for everyday wear and stiff, round, winged collars which he wore for best. When I was a little girl, he kept the flat collars in an old cigar box. Poor grandad went potty when he discovered that, yet again, I'd been playing my favourite game in his bedroom. This involved me pretending that the collars were wet fish and, after laying them out on his Victorian brass bed, which served as a marble slab, I would then proceed to wrap the collars up in sheets of newspaper whilst pretending that customers were coming in to buy them at my imaginary wet fish shop. Of course the news print came off all over Grandad's beautifully clean collars which meant they all had to go back in the wash! I loved my grandfather dearly but he died when I was only 7 years old. He did shout at me sometimes but I have no doubt I deserved it!

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Thinking about it, my mother said that her father worked in the building on Queensbridge Road for as long as she could remember and she was born in 1926 so I would imagine that it had been the premises of Sidney Pullinger at least from that time and probably earlier.

I have tried to obtain information about Sidney Pullinger and although I have never seen anything about this building in connection with a cigar manufacturer, I do know that my grandfather worked there.

I'm delighted to see that the building still exists as so many in Nottingham have been razed to the ground and replaced by modern structures.

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Built some time in the early 20th century. It's not on a map of circa 1901 (at the top) but it appears a few years later. It's only ever labelled as "Warehouse". The lower map is the early 1950s. I'm surprised there isn't any date or a name in the brickwork above the entrance.

karlsruhe_zpsojcqwfaz.jpg

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I believe that Sydney Pullinger Ltd were cigar dealers and also manufacturers but there is information to indicate that their main base may have been in Birmingham. Therefore, the premises on Traffic Street and the building on Queensbridge Road may have been mainly warehousing and related offices.

The building in the photograph is certainly the one my mother pointed out to me from early childhood as being her father's place of employment and it always caught my attention because of its unusual structure and the fact that she particularly pointed out the window right at the top over the entrance door as having been the office where her father worked.

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In the news archives for a brief period between 1927 and 1930 the building seems to be called Imperial Hall .

Confusingly Imperial Hall , a Conservative Social Club ,within this period is mentioned in reports as being variously on Queens Bridge Rd , or Queens Drive or Queens Walk depending on the event !

This from 1927 opening :

"NEW NOTTINGHAM UNIONIST CLUB TO BE RUN ON STRICT TEMPERANCE LINES. . The new Southern Division Conservative Club at 18, Queen's Bridge-road, Nottingham, which is to be run on strict temperance lines, was informally opened this afternoon by Lord Henry Bentinck M.P"

10the Sept 1927 Nottingham Evening Post.

Sidney Pullingers cigar makers are mentioned certainly in the 30s and also 1940 as being on Traffic St / Queens Drive .....mainly advertising for staff . It does mention the cigar manager being a Mr Phillip Jacobs.

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I think this is the building where my maternal grandfather worked. In his later adult life, he worked for a firm of cigar makers which I believe was named Sydney Pullinger. Grandad worked in the accounts department but had apparently worked his way up from the shop floor, having been employed in the tobacco industry all his life.

As a child, I remember passing this building on the bus with my mother and she always pointed it out as the place where her father had worked and she always pointed to the window on the top floor above the entrance door which was apparently his office, so presumably she must have been there at some point.

My grandfather decided not to retire when he reached the age of 65 and continued to work in this building until he was at least 70 which would have been in 1953. One of the perks of the job was that he had boxes of cigars every so often and I recall as a child, because he lived with us, the stench of cigar smoke filling the house. When he wasn't smoking cigars, he smoked a pipe.

like many men of his generation, grandad wore shirts with detachable collars. These fell into two types: flat collars for everyday wear and stiff, round, winged collars which he wore for best. When I was a little girl, he kept the flat collars in an old cigar box. Poor grandad went potty when he discovered that, yet again, I'd been playing my favourite game in his bedroom. This involved me pretending that the collars were wet fish and, after laying them out on his Victorian brass bed, which served as a marble slab, I would then proceed to wrap the collars up in sheets of newspaper whilst pretending that customers were coming in to buy them at my imaginary wet fish shop. Of course the news print came off all over Grandad's beautifully clean collars which meant they all had to go back in the wash! I loved my grandfather dearly but he died when I was only 7 years old. He did shout at me sometimes but I have no doubt I deserved it!

What an amazing Story, It seems the building has had quite the past. The window your mother pointed out is now our Conference room on the 1st floor and our office on the 2nd. I'm sure the inside of the building is nothing like it was when your grandad work here.

From what I have found out the building was converted in 1991 into 8 Units for industrial use. I know that Unit 4 was used as a printing press for a number of years after the conversion. The council converted the bulding and in doing so removed or covered up most of the original iron works. But the company I work for (local software firm) has just renovated Unit 6 and i got to see a lot of the hidden and forgotten Iron posts and beams holding the building up.

I have emailed Nottingham City Planning department to obtain the planning documents from the converstion.

I would like to create a timeline for the wall at the entrance to the bulding marking its history.

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#11

I'm so pleased you are taking an interest in this building dnet and discovering its past. My grandfather would certainly approve! His name was Louis Saunt and I recall that the the manager of the firm at the time was a Mr Kennedy who lived in West Bridgford.

May I wish you every success with the project. Do let us all know what you find!

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Thank you all.

I have an appointment at the Nottingham archives next week to try and find some picture / planning applications.

I will share what I find on here.

I will also post some recent pictures of the inside of the building.

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karlsruhe_zps8ogke65e.jpg

Motorists would have had to turn off Queens Drive at Waterway St and then turn left down Queens Bridge Rd to get to Kinglake and Brierley Streets. Or turn right to get to Traffic Street and the Queens Grove. Must have been Queen Vic, as the old King hadn't died at that stage.

See here:

queenswalk.jpg

The building to the left of the base of the red arrow was the Boots factory. Funny to think having a chemical factory across the street from a primary/junior school. No elf and sefty then for us little buggers.

Here's the corner of the Karlsruhe building looking down from the Grove Tavern:

grovetavern.jpg

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