Buildings
177 High Street West
Known as The Tyre Shop today, the most famous use for this building was as Sunderland’s branch of The Union Joint Stock Bank from 1836 until 1853.
At a glance
- Initially, the building known as The Tyre Shop was 2 separate buildings, 177 High Street West and 1-2 Villiers Street but at one point in their history, the two were combined.
- In 1829, it hosted Sir William Chaytor & Co. private bank, later being bought by Union Joint Stock Bank.
- In more recent years, the ground floor of the building was being used as a tyre salesroom and fitting workshop.
- Although the ground floor continued to be in use, the upper floors were derelict and in need of serious repair.
- The Trust took on the building and construction work started in 2020
2020- Today
Our work
After the Trust’s success with what is now Pop Recs and wider community efforts in the area, these buildings were the last in need of restoration in Sunderland’s Heritage Action Zone so the Trust once again stepped in. Working with Sunderland City Council and the Architectural Heritage Fund, the Trust’s work began on 177 High Street West in 2020.
The Trust’s work is inspired by visits to other projects and benefits from being part of Open Heritage, a European research project funded through Horizon 2020. The work in Sunderland has been hugely influenced by visits to Liverpool’s Granby Streets, ruined pubs in Budapest and Be’kech anti cafe in Berlin.
The shells of the buildings were restored by the end of 2020, ensuring their structural integrity and maintaining security.
Works in 2020 allowed ground floor activity to resume in 2021. Also in 2021, the Tyre Shop hosted a mural of Ida and Louise Cook as part of a trail called Rebel Women of Sunderland, ‘a project that shines a light on the lives of remarkable women of Sunderland”. Ida and Louise were humanitarians born in Sunderland in 1904 and 1901 respectively. Working as typists, they helped Jewish people escape Nazi Germany in the 1930s.
As you can imagine, the restoration and rejuvenation of these buildings were heavily impacted by COVID-19. But, in early 2023, works to the roof were completed, finally making the buildings watertight and preventing any further damage.
1893 – 2015
History
These buildings were added to the grounds of an original medieval Sunderland settlement in the early 1800s to accommodate for the town’s quickly growing population.
Although they are now covered in pebbledash, the layers beneath reveal traditional nineteenth-century building techniques that more closely match with the ornate entrance.
In 1829, the buildings hosted Sir William Chaytor & Co., a private banking firm. Sir William was the illegitimate son of William Chaytor Sr. who, himself, came from a prestigious family of landed gentry who held financial and political power in the region for centuries. William Jr. also owned Witton Castle estate, was a board member of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and was MP for Sunderland from 1832-1835.
In 1836, the decision was made, very much against the wishes of William’s son Henry, to sell the premises to Union Joint Stock Bank as public banking was taking over the more traditional private company system.
In 1847, all 3 of the northern branches of the Union Joint Stock Banks failed as part of a wider sequence of banking failures that year throughout England and Scotland. The liabilities the bank owed upon failure would be the equivalent of over £140 million today! Attempts were made to keep the bank afloat but the final collapse came in 1853 and Henry Chaytor reportedly took great joy in overseeing the dissolution of the company.
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