This water tower supplies the sprinkler system and was years ahead of its time. One of, if not the first steel framed buildings to be used and had many features that were seen as technologically advanced – elevators and even plans for escalators that never eventuated.The building also had large boilers that provided heating and hot water systems that again were new to the shopping fraternity. I well remember having to bleed the top floor radiators every day at 7-30am before staff arrived as air collected in the system. Photograph and information courtesy of Mr Alan Davies – Australia 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Wasn’t there a fire in that tower in the late 70s or possibly early 80s?
This is the tower that Dave Wright was inquiring about.
When you look at the picture posted here, just under the D of the name was our staff canteen back then (later bacame a store room) and during the day plain clothed police officers used to sit there with binoculars looking out for car theives and shoplifters. There was a real rough pub in the direction of where the photo was taken from where people used to go and sell there takings from the shops in the high street. Very sad that some days we had more shoplifters in the shop than customers. I also remember water proofing the roof one day just below the tower and watched 3 rouges on the next roof (which I believe used to be a jeweler????) ripping the lead off the roof. On my break I would walk over to the windows where the switchboard and offices were and sit for my lunch talking to my mate Amanda Laverick who was the switchboard operator. So many people I would love to get in touch with. I also remember finding a stash of sign writers boards in the attic one day, I think they must have been there for years. What a task they must of had having to hand write every promotion. When I eventually hit the big South African Lotto I am going to fly over and spend the day just walking around the building and re-live good old times.
The rough old pub was the American Tavern and many a pint of Cameron’s consumed there. Strongarm beer should have been called ‘strong stomach’ and an acquired taste.
No problem Dave – lots of stories could be told of my time at the store but certainly boring for those with no connection to its history. It really must have been ahead of its time in 1900/01 and the foresight of Mathias should not be under-estimated. There were various extensions to the building but the core of the building was never really changed. The design became a blueprint for other stores and I would love to see the original plans. Maybe there is room for a short history (book) on the store as it was certainly a fantastic place to be in the mid 60’s for a 16 year old male! The photograph was taken from Nolan House (permission of John Robson)
Thanks Alan and Brian. I love the History of this building and would love to know more. I was doing some work in the basement years ago and was asked to break down a wall under the staircase adjacent to the lifts. A few hours later we got through. We thought this area was going to be empty but were amazed to find 3 or 4 boxes containing Ledgers, cash books, journals and various accounting files from (if I can remember correctly)the 1940s. All the books were leather bound and had small padlocks on them. Carefully I removed the locks and spent days reading through the hand written books, from staff wages to supplier payments… I asked if I could possibly purchase the books and was turned down. The store manager at the time said he was going to have a cabinet made and put them on display. This never happened and when I left to return to SA I noticd them lying with a whole load of rubbish in the old sign writers attic… sad, very sad…
Dave Stockton – if the pump you are refering to was located in the basement and in the room/space to the right of the goods lift then it will be the air pump (compressor) that we left behind in 1966 when we removed the old Lamson Paragon exchange located in the basement. It was too awkward to remove and was left in place until a later date!! This unit handled all the pneumatic tube interchange for the money transfer tubing system that ran throughout the store – no tills to keep the money in. The staff that worked on this system had gone by the time I worked there in 1965/67. It was a badly lit, poorly ventilated area and the system was prone to breakdown. The communication between this area and accounts was via an old WWII wind up field telephone system. One of the last jobs I was involved in was the dismantling and removal of all the redundant Lamson equipment, needless to say some stores in Australia now install the latest Lamson systems for security reasons. There was a little gold mine under the equipment with money that had slipped out of the system, unfortunately we were supervised and the money went direct to accounts, or so my boss said! How times have changed – removed in 1965/67 to modernise and in 2011 they are installing them for security reasons. My memory was jogged by Brian Swales comments.
The Debenham’s water tower was erected in 1900/01 when the present store was built after the original building was destroyed by fire. Debenham’s was originally Robinson’s department store founded by Matthias Robinson in 1896. Mr Robinson opened his first modest shop in West Hartlepool in September 1875, he later bought adjoining shops adding new departments to his Hartlepool store. Because of his wife’s bronchial trouble the family moved to Stockton on doctors’ advice. Travelling each day to Hartlepool from his home in Hartburn, Matthias Robinson soon realised the possibilities of opening a store in Stockton, but this time with all the departments under one roof – and in 1896 he bought numbers 149 and 150 Stockton High Street. He altered these two town houses, which adjoined the vicarage of the Parish Church, into his first Stockton department store – Robinson’s. Unfortunately three years later, and just three days before Christmas 1899, this store was completely destroyed by fire. Undaunted, and within three working days of the fire, Matthias had plans submitted for a huge temporary wooden structure to be erected in nearby Wellington Street. The plans were passed and the structure was erected within two weeks. Matthias Robinson and his eldest son, Arthur, were back in business. Meanwhile plans were being prepared for a new larger store to be built on the original Stockton site. Throughout 1900 and early 1901 work continued on this new store, and when it was finished and opened to the public in May 1901, it was one of the largest department stores in the North of England having no less than 48 departments, a restaurant and a cafe. It was also the first to be fitted with a pneumatic tube system and was the first multi-story steel-framed department store in England. But perhaps most important of all, it was fitted throughout with a sprinkler system, and to give added pressure the water was fed from the high water tower at the rear of the building – the tower that is still a feature of the Stockton skyline today. After his death the business continued to be family run, with the Stockton store being run by his son Cyril. In 1962 the Robinson empire was bought by the Debenham’s group in a £2.8m take-over, and ten years later the Robinson name disappeared altogether. Condensed from my research on “Landieu” – the house in Hartburn where the Robinson family lived. 30/08/2011 11:17:16
Hello Dave, great memories in my time at what was Robinsons but then owned by Debenhams. The old pump you refer to may have been the original water pump for the heating system. I have lived in Perth Australia since 1983 and have been back many times and visited the store which has changed so much and not for the better in most ways. I also remember climbing the old wooden stairs up to the tank once a week to check all was well. Met my wife at Robinsons in 1966/67, married in 1970 and still married. Lot to thank Mathias Robinson for. All the best Alan.
Alan We were far better off than that !!!! we had a jokey pump so very little manual work was done. I used to open the valves, let the bells creetch for 5 minutes and close up and check the floors for leaks. 3 hours manually pumping ??? thank god I did not have to do that. I did however have to bring the lift down to the basement full of people on more than one Saturday morning when it went on the blink ‘again’. I wonder if the old manual lift is still opperational? In the basement at the back of the store was the remnants of some sort of pump ??? we never could figure out what it was, do you have any idea ?? Do you still live in Stockton ?
I worked in the maintenance department from 1965 to 1967, straight from school. Bob Reay was my boss along with a senior citizen who taught me the ropes – Bert Blackett – a real character. Many happy memories of life in a typical ‘Grace Brothers’ type of world. Mr Rose was manager and Mr Spears his deputy. Remember one person in particular, Frank Robinson in the display department, he was a charmer with the girls and a role model for me!! Met my wife there when she was 15 and we are still married so it must have been something in the water. The water tower for the sprinkler system had to be re-pressurised after testing and was done with a hand pump that took three hours of hard slog every month. Happy days indeed.
I was the maintenance manager at this store from 1992-1997. I wish I had a pound for every time I walked up to the top of that tower to check that the water tank was full and nothing was blocking the outlet. One year we had waterproofing done on the tank, what a mission it was getting the equipment up there. We also repaired the roof and during some hot works on the roof, the trusses smoldered and I got called out at 3am in the morning when the fire alarms went off. Had to climb to the top once again with the fire brigade. What a night. Years after we sandblasted the external building, another nightmare. Was a fantastic store to work in and have nothing but brilliant memories. Made some fantastic friends and sadly lost touch on my return to South Africa. One day I hope to visit the store and see if all my handywork still exists!
Robinsons was the place to go after Saturday morning shopping. My mother and her sister used to meet up for coffee in the restaurant and my cousin and I had to behave ourselves, because it was the sort of place where you left a threepenny bit under the saucer for the waitress. I got into fearful trouble one day when, aged about four, I shook hands with one of those highly elegant models and the arm came off completely. I don”t know which was worse – the shock or the smack!