Register for Buildings and Sites of Architectural, Archaeological and Historical Importance in Jersey
Snow Hill Railway ‘Building’, La Route de St Aubin, St Helier
This report has been prepared by Jersey Heritage as part of its responsibility under a Service Level Agreement to provide reports and recommendations to the Minister for Planning and Environment on the architectural, historical and archaeological significance of buildings and sites.
The assessment and recommendation are made in accordance with the existing criteria for assessment and designation of historic buildings. The report includes the views and advice offered by the Ministerial Registration and Listing Advisory Group.
Author of report: Roger Hills BA(Hons) MA DipBldgCons (RICS) IHBC Head of Historic Buildings
Date of report: 17 February 2009
File ref: HE1638
Current status
Currently registered as a BLI.
Relevant interests of the site (see assessment form)
Historic interest
Two end pieces of the 1897 platform shelter that stood at Snow Hill Railway Station. It is understood that the architectural elements of the former platform shelter were re-located by Claude Poingdestre to his garden in the late 1930s – the owner having worked for the Jersey Eastern Railway and based at Snow Hill.
Architectural interest
The building in question is a timber shed / garage that incorporate the 2 end pieces of the 1897 platform shelter that stood at Snow Hill Railway Station – specifically a pair of cast iron arches with decorative columns and spandrels, timber bargeboards and a detached timber glazing frame. The lower sections of the columns have either been cut off or sunk into the ground when the shed was constructed. Other parts of the platform shelter are at the Pallot Steam Museum. The remainder of the shed is a hotchpotch of 20th century timber, blockwork and corrugated iron – none of which appears to be related to the original railway structure and is of no interest.
Advice offered by MRLAG (and others if stated)
MRLAG discussed the site at its meeting on 9 February 2009. It was agreed that the pieces of the former railway building are of interest and should be preserved. It was debated whether the surviving parts can be considered as a registered building and members concluded that the structure should remain as a BLI to ensure its future protection.
Jersey Heritage recommendation
The structure under consideration includes re-used and re-located parts of an 1897 railway building. Although these fragments of the building are in themselves of historical interest and should be preserved (perhaps in a museum context), it is proposed that they do not meet the criteria for the registration of historic buildings and that it would be inappropriate to secure their future via historic building legislation and policy. It is therefore proposed that the railway structure should be removed from the register.
Justification relating to criteria
It is proposed that the fragments of the railway building present at the site do not satisfy the criteria for registration which state, “Buildings included in the Register are those which substantially retain their historic form and detail, or sufficient for that form and detail to be readily recovered from surviving evidence, and so make a significant and positive contribution to the architectural and historical identity, character and amenity of Jersey.”
Attachments
Location plan
Photographs, January 2009
Board of Trustees
Chairman Clive Jones Vice-Chairman: Philip Le Brocq
Rowland Anthony, Geoffrey Crill, Connétable Simon Crowcroft, Blair Gould, Paul Nicolle, Jonathan Voak