::: park st (bristol 1)

park st links bristol city centre to clifton

it is a steep st lined with shops, bars and restaurants

though it still maintains an edge, many of the independant shops have now been replaced by chains

originally: development began in 1740 when the city council leased land to nathaniel day to open a new street

the upper part of the street was developed from about 1786 and work was suspended in the financial crisis of 1793, resumed and completed about ten years later

a standard design by thomas paty was used for park street’s houses; plain facades, three windows wide, in bath stone

park street was bristol’s earliest example of uniformly stepped terracing

the philosophical institution, now freemasons’ hall, was built by r.s. pope for c.r. cockerell in 1821

a cast-iron viaduct to take the street over the natural gully between college green and brandon hill was built by r.s. pope in 1871

many buildings on park street suffered bombing on 24 november 1940 in the bristol blitz. 30 were destroyed, 6 burnt out and 3 severely damaged. nearly all though were later rebuilt and restored

in 1976 a huge gas explosion destroyed some of the buildings near the bottom of the road, most were rebuilt as replicas

some of the furnishings from the rms mauretania were installed in a venue, initially called “mauretania”. the neon sign on the south wall still advertises the ‘mauretania’: installed in 1938 this was the first moving neon sign in bristol

visible from the viaduct, on the side of a sexual-health clinic in frogmore street, is a mural by local graffiti artist banksy