Well finally we managed to find a way into part of the so far elusive other Downings building in Gloucester. Visited with my good friend Mr Hpipe..
Ok so this is why they exist....
Two Brothers George and William Downing started building Malthouse 1 in Merchants road, Gloucester in 1876, due to the sucess of the business they then build a second Malthouse in 1895 right next to it and a further Malthouse 3 and Malthouse 4 in front right next to the dock edge. Malthouse 1 is on the right and Malthouse 2 is on the left, Malthouse 3 and 4 are just begining construction in the foreground. Around 1900/1901....
Same place today,Merchants Road, this is the picture of Malthouse 2 and on the edge the concrete silo.
MH 3 is on my left and the concrete silo structure was built in the early 50's after MH1 was demolished when moderisation took place.
MH2 was designed by a bloke called Walter B Wood and looks amost the same as it did 100 odd years ago.
This i think is the remaining wall of MH1 onto which the concrete silo is built.
The floors on Malthouse 2 are the worst rotted floors i have seen and alot of the thick cross support beams have gone too -the stairs up to the second floor exists but is like dust no way it would hold. Looking through the holes in the basement floor to floor 2 and it looks as bad so we decided it was certain suicide to attempt it and get across the outside road section to MH3/4. Floor 2 and possibly 3 i think are virtually empty anyway from what we could see. The 50's concrete Silo is intact enough to get into- but with a very precarious internal entry and non of the charm of the old lost building - but some good views from the top.
Back in Malthouse 2...
In 1972 the whole lot was taken over by ABM and the Downing name was lost. The place closed when production was moved to Wallingford in about 1980 and the building taken over by West Midland Farmers to store Grain (signed above the door even now). Im not sure what the plans are for MH2,3 and 4, its strange they have escaped the redevelopment so far but MH2 is very very poor condition inside and i guess that may be bad news.
Hopefully we may be able to figure malthouse 3 and 4 soon enough.
Ok so this is why they exist....
Two Brothers George and William Downing started building Malthouse 1 in Merchants road, Gloucester in 1876, due to the sucess of the business they then build a second Malthouse in 1895 right next to it and a further Malthouse 3 and Malthouse 4 in front right next to the dock edge. Malthouse 1 is on the right and Malthouse 2 is on the left, Malthouse 3 and 4 are just begining construction in the foreground. Around 1900/1901....
Same place today,Merchants Road, this is the picture of Malthouse 2 and on the edge the concrete silo.
MH 3 is on my left and the concrete silo structure was built in the early 50's after MH1 was demolished when moderisation took place.
MH2 was designed by a bloke called Walter B Wood and looks amost the same as it did 100 odd years ago.
This i think is the remaining wall of MH1 onto which the concrete silo is built.
The floors on Malthouse 2 are the worst rotted floors i have seen and alot of the thick cross support beams have gone too -the stairs up to the second floor exists but is like dust no way it would hold. Looking through the holes in the basement floor to floor 2 and it looks as bad so we decided it was certain suicide to attempt it and get across the outside road section to MH3/4. Floor 2 and possibly 3 i think are virtually empty anyway from what we could see. The 50's concrete Silo is intact enough to get into- but with a very precarious internal entry and non of the charm of the old lost building - but some good views from the top.
Back in Malthouse 2...
In 1972 the whole lot was taken over by ABM and the Downing name was lost. The place closed when production was moved to Wallingford in about 1980 and the building taken over by West Midland Farmers to store Grain (signed above the door even now). Im not sure what the plans are for MH2,3 and 4, its strange they have escaped the redevelopment so far but MH2 is very very poor condition inside and i guess that may be bad news.
Hopefully we may be able to figure malthouse 3 and 4 soon enough.
