1-3 Ock Street has its own blog – written by Chris Wilshurst of Kemp & Kemp.
In July 2012 he wrote “Who would have thought it. 35 years ago I was involved in the acquisition of an office building in Abingdon, on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council and today that very same building is now owned by my business partner and me.”
Chris writes about the building “Over the years the building has become institutionalised with fire doors, signage, security doors and systems, anaglypta wall paper, magnolia paint, surface wiring and general neglect. We cannot ignore safety and other regulation but we do want to return the building to its former glory, restoring some of the original features as well as rendering the building ‘fit for purpose’ as a modern office environment.”
This week Chris shows the stripping away of plastic trunking and some recent discoveries.
This is not just a blog about restoring a fine old building, it is also an exploration of the people who once lived there. We learn about R D’Almaine whose name is on the war memorial in the Square down below.
Children from Rush Common School visited to find out about the history of the old building and some of their pieces are included in the blog.
Visit 1-3 Ock Street Abingdon to find out more.
I always thought it was a lovely building and how wonderful that it will be lovingly restored. Good luck with all the work on it.
Often wondered what it was like inside, looks like it is going to be restored and updated with thought about the integrety and history of the building.
It is a beautiful building but has lacked TLC over the last 40/50 years. We are hoping to open the building for public access on the Heritage Open Day on 14th September when we can show what we have found and explain what we have done. We are keeping a photographic record and keeping old artefacts that we find, such as a letter dated 1897! Just this week we have opened up several old Georgian fireplaces. We will update the blog as the work progresses.