HADFIELD CAWKWELL DAVIDSON COLLECTION

HCD

HADFIELD CAWKWELL DAVIDSON COLLECTION

19th century - 20th century

This collection contains architectural plans and drawings

English

Twenty-seven boxes, containing nearly three and a half thousand of the older drawings

Deposited with Sheffield Archives in 1979

The boxes received were:

HCD/Box 96/1-4

HCD/Box 99/1-17

HCD/Box 100/1-3

HCD/Box 106/1-18

HCD/Box 109/1-22

HCD/Box 111/1-90

HCD/Box 112/1-51

HCD/Box 113/1-33

HCD/Box 114/1-7

HCD/Box 115/1-8

HCD/Box 116/1-25

HCD/Box 117/1-26

HCD/Box 118/1-9

HCD/Box 119/1-23

HCD/Box 120/1-14

HCD/Box 121/1-20

HCD/Box 122/1-35

HCD/Box 123/1-29

HCD/Box 124/1-21

HCD/Box 126/1-6

HCD/Box 128/1-4

HCD/Box 134/1-34

HCD/Box 135/1-2

HCD/Box 136/1-5

HCD/Box 140/1-10

HCD/Box 141/1-21

HCD/Box 142/1-13

The dimensions of each drawing are given as height x width

The archives

Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson have preserved an extensive collection of architectural drawings of buildings designed by the practice, together with some drawings by other architects. The drawings were listed by the former South Yorkshire County Archive Service in 1977

Archives of Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson, architects, engineers and town planning consultants, Sheffield

Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson continue a practice that began in 1838 when John Grey Weightman (1801 - 1872) and Matthew Ellison Hadfield (1812 - 1885) formed an architectural partnership, with offices at the Corn Exchange, Sheffield.

Both men served their articles with the Doncaster architects John Woodhead and William Hurst. Weightman then worked in the offices of Charles Barry and C R Cockerell in London, before setting up in practice as an architect in Sheffield in 1832. Mathew Hadfield had worked in the office of his uncle, Michael Ellison, the Agent for the Duke of Norfolk in Sheffield, before training as an architect c1831 - 1834. In 1835 he gained experience in the office of P F Robinson in London, spending some of his time on Robinson's competition scheme for the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, before returning to Sheffield. After working both independently and together informally, Weightman and Hadfield began their formal partnership in 1838. In 1850 they took George Goldie (1828 - 1887), who had been their pupil, into partnership, the practice becoming Weightman, Hadfield and Goldie.

By 1858, when Weightman left the firm, they were one of the leading practices in the Sheffield area, acting as architects for the Duke of Norfolk's northern estates and obtaining commissions from other Roman Catholic clients. In 1860 Goldie also withdrew to work independently, leaving M E Hadfield to practice alone until 1864 when his son Charles Hadfield (1840 - 1916) joined him. They worked together as M E Hadfield and Son until M E Hadfield's death in 1885. In 1890 Arthur Garland became a partner, the style of the firm then being Hadfield, Son and Garland. Charles' son, Charles Matthew Ellison Hadfield (1867 - 1949) joined in 1897, and after Garland left in 1899 father and son worked together as C and C M Hadfield until 1916.

After his father's death C M Hadfield ran an independent practice until Robert Cawkwell (1894 - 1968) became a partner in 1924. Although C M Hadfield retired in 1937 the style of the firm remained Hadfield and Cawkwell until 1946, when John William Davidson (1911 -) joined Robert Cawkwell. The firm practised as Hadfield Cawkwell and Davidson until 1963, when it became Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson and Partners. John W Davidson retired in 1974.

The changes in name of the partnership have been matched by a variety of office addresses in Sheffield. For fifty years, until the practice lost the appointment as architects to the Norfolk estates in 1889, it was at the Corn Exchange, moving then to Old Club Chambers, Norfolk Street. From 1903 to 1940 it was at 19 St James' Street, and since 1956 has been at 17 Broomgrove Road.

Over the years two other practices have been associated with the Hadfields' practice. The first was that of William Wilkinson Wardell of 44 Parliament Street, Westminster, London, which was taken over in 1858. George Goldie ran the practice's London office at that address until 1860, when he left the partnership. The second practice was that of Arthur Nunweek of Mazda Buildings, Campo Lane, Sheffield, which was absorbed into the main practice about 1957.

Over the years the practice has undertaken a wide range of commissions, not only in Sheffield but in the north of England and further afield, including public buildings, churches, schools, houses, hospitals, shops and offices, railway stations and factories. From the 1960s the practice extended into civil and structural engineering, and developed its work in the fields of building conservation and planning. The Hadfields were Roman Catholics and designed a significant number of Catholic churches, schools and convents. Charles Hadfield was a lifelong friend of John Francis Bentley (1839 - 1902), the architect of Westminster Cathedral.