No 15 King Street
15 King Street
The short cut between King Street and Vine Street and the Royal Square, formerly part of jewellers Linscott's, has disappeared, incorporated into the new bank building
No 15 King Street has proved difficult to research, because it seems to have escaped most census enumerators. That may be because there was nobody resident at the time of the various censuses, and the premises were purely commercial.
The 1841 census shows William Bethell (30), an auctioneer, living there with wife Ann and two children. Four years earlier a commercial directory listed him as a bookseller and stationer.
The building
Nos 15 and 17 are combined in one entry in the Historic Environment Record: A building of early origins, with 19th century scale and proportions which are sympathetic to the street. Principally 19th century with 21st century refurbishment. Three-storey, three-bay (two bays on No 17). Front, north elevation: Roof unseen behind parapet. Three box dormers (two on No 17). Walls rendered with string course at gutter level. Unusual pot-belled hopper of mid-18th century date on the left hand side at gutter.
Hollick fancy goods
N B Hollick, a fancy goods dealer and jeweller was trading from No 15 in 1850, as shown in the almanac advert below, and certainly in 1852 and 1857. In 1880 the business was listed as H Hollick, so it is a reasonable assumption that the business was there in between, although there is no record of an H Hollick in the 1861 or 1871 censuses, nor any return for the premises. Nor is there any recorded baptism in Jersey for a Hollick, which suggests that this was one of a number of English families to set up a shop in the growing centre of St Helier in the mid-19th century.
The premises are shown as unoccupied in the 1881 census, only a year after H Hollick is shown in an almanac listing as trading there, which suggests that the family did not live above their business.
In 1890 No 15 is shown as a back entrance to the York Hotel, which had its main frontage on the Royal Square. This is the only reference to the hotel extending this far along King Street.
Wine merchants
Probably before the turn of the century, as suggested by the advertisement on this page, but certainly by 1905, de Veulle and Co were operating at No 15 as wine and spirit merchants. They were followed by Scott and Co and then Linscotts Jewellers for the whole of the second half of the 20th century.
In 2010 Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank had rebuilt the property and a regrettable feature of this process was the loss of the narrow covered passage which used to pass through from King Street to Vine Street.
Chronology
- 1937 - William Bethel, bookseller and stationer
- 1841 - William Bethell, auctioneer
- 1850 - N B Hollick, fancy goods and jeweller
- 1861 - Not listed in census
- 1871 - Not listed in census
- 1880 - H Hollick, fancy repository
- 1886 - C Baker, chemist
- 1890 - York Hotel
- 1895 - F A Plint
- 1905-1920 - de Veulle and Co, wine and spirit merchants
- 1928 - Rosalie [1]
- 1930 - Scott and Co
- 1940-2000 Linscotts jewellers
- 2010 - Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank
Valuation
- 15 and 17 King Street and 1 and 2 Vine Street were sold for £5,400,000 in 2012
File:KingStreet1.jpg|The street has been closed to traffic but not yet paved over File:StHelierPrecinct.jpg|On the left of this picture taken in the 1970s are Nos 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 up to the Linscott's sign File:KingStreet1963.jpg|Linscott's at No 15 in the 1960s File:Sc18Ad1850Hollick.jpg|1850 File:JC16AdHollick1852.jpg|1852 File:GM21Advert1853-36.jpg|1853 File:1857AdHollickKingSt.jpg|Hollick advert from 1857 File:DeVeulleAd.jpg|Advert for de Veulle and Co File:W17AdKnifeCleaner1859.jpg|1859 File:Su17LinscottAd1946.jpg|1946 File:Sc18AdJBD1948Linscott.jpg File:GM21Ad1859Hollick.jpg|1859 File:U21Ad1906DeVeulle.png|1906 File:S24Chronique1928Rosalie15KingStreet.png|1928 advert in Chronique de Jersey. Entry from the arcade. Corselets from 3s 11½d
Notes and references
- ↑ Added in 2024 after discovery of advert - below
