Krommer, Helmut

Old Cottages in Park Street Farnham Road

Guildhall 1947

This and many other works by Krommer were donated to the Guildford Borough Art Collection by his daughter to acknowledge the many happy years her father spent in the area. To the left, on the corner of Market Street, can be seen the Bull's Head. A timber-framed house of about 1550, it had become The Bull by 1625. It had fallen into disrepair by 155, when it was extensively restored. IT closed in 1989 and is now a jewellers shop.

Old Tudor House 1948

This is the rear view of 16-18 Quarry Street, showing Tudor timber-framing. The 'Quarry Street Backs', sloping down to the millstream, were a popular subject for artists until the mid 1960s when Millbrook was constructed across the gardens in the foreground.

Sunday in Ripley 1948

This view of Ripley High Street has changed little. The artist has his back to the Old Smithy and in the foreground is what was then the main road to London. In the 1970s Ripley was bypassed when the new A3 was constructed.

Guildhall 1947 another view

The meeting place of the Guildford Corporation since the Middle Ages the Guildhall was extended at the rear in 1589 and in 1683 a new frontage was added, with a bell turret, a first floor chamber with a balcony and a dramatic projecting clock.

Old Ship Inn 1946

The Old Ship Inn on the Portsmouth Road, is reputed to be "where Chaucer slept"

St Catherine's 1946

These 17th and 18th century cottages lie along a path at the foot of St Catherine's Hill. At this date, one of them was the home of Henry Sage a prolific local watercolourist.

1683 Clock Tunsgate 1946

A view of the High Street, showing the Guildhall Clock and also the Cornmarket (now Tunsgate). The Guildhall clock, which had been stored in the crypt of the half-finished cathedral during the war, was restored to its ancient position on 6 September 1945. Opposite it can be seen the Cornmarket arch, with the triple gables of Bretts and Records outfitters to its right.

Weyside Hotel Guildford 1946

The Weyside Commercial Hotel stood on the corner of the Portsmouth Road and The Mount. It closed in about 1953.

Old Gables Park Street 1946

These old cottages in Park Street date from Tudor Times and have been a favourite subject for topographical artists. In 1910 a proposal to knock them down was successfully opposed. However, they were demolished as being unfit for habitation in 1957.

St Catherine's Ruins 1947

The Chapel on St. Catherine's Hill dates from about 1218. It was built as a chapel of ease for St Nicholas Parish, but was already fallen into ruin by the end of the Middle Ages. It is cared for by Guildford Borough Council who erected railings around it in 1955.

St Mary's Quarry Street 1947

The Saxon tower of St Mary's rises above the yew trees. To the right is the Star public house, a timber-framed building dating from the end of Elizabeth I's reign. The scene is little changed, save that W.H. Smith's to the left is now a travel agents.

New Cathedral Stag Hill 1947

Guildford is the only cathedral to be built on a new site in southern England since the Reformation. It struggled into being through the depression of the 1930s, the Second World War and the austerity of the 1950s before finally being consecrated in 1961. The foundation stone of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit was laid in 1936, but by the outbreak of war only the chancel and the transepts had been built. Work halted until 1952 and was completed some 10 years later. Its architect was Sir Edward Maufe (1883 - 1974) who achieved his aim of "to build anew on tradition, to rely on proportion of mass, volume and line rather than elaboration and ornament". The Cathedral interior offers an overall impression of elegant lightness and space created by the pale Somerset sandstone, pillars, white Italian marble floor and the light flooding in through Maufe's tall lancet windows. This drawing was made during the time building had been halted.

Holy Trinity High Street 1947

In the middle distance rises the tower of Holy Trinity Church, completed in 1763. At this date, ivy still covered the north wall of the nave. To the left can be seen Thomas Thorp's second-hand bookshop.

Tunsgate Former Corn market 1947

This unusual view shows the car park formed after 1936, when the properties on the west side of Tunsgate were demolished. New shops were built on the site as part of the Tunsgate Square development in 1971. On the east side of Tunsgate can be seen S.R. Jeffery's motorcycle shop.

Grammar School 1946

Founded by Robert Beckingham in 1512, the Royal Grammar School was chartered by Edward VI in 1553. A new school was begun in 1557, and was completed by the time of the Spanish Armada.

Angel Yard 1947

The Angel is the only survivor of Guildford's great coaching inns. This stable yard view shows the 16th century timbers behind the street façade of 1820. The archway leads out into the High Street, where Krommer has depicted a bridal couple.

St Martha's Chapel 1946

St Martha's is unusual, in being a parish church with no village. Its dramatic hilltop location may have been chosen in Saxon times to Christianise a pagan site. Little medieval work survives in the present building, which was largely rebuilt in 1848 by the local architect Henry Woodyer.

Old Surrey Cottage 1946

This is Dodman's Cottage, Shamley Green. According to the Domestic Buildings Research Group, the building dates from around 1400 - an early mediaeval open hall house, but extended in the 17th century. It is typical of the late medieval timber-framing of the area, with its characteristics 'half-hipped' gable.

Pest House 1947

The Pest House stands in what is now called Pilgrim's Way, perhaps far enough from the town to be used as an isolation hospital. To the right can be seen one of the distinctive brick porches added to many f the houses owned by the Austen family of Shalford in the early 19th century.

Surrey Pines 1946

These are examples of the Scots pine pius sylvestris and are not native to Surrey. They were almost certainly deliberately introduced in the 18th or 19th centuries.

River Scenery 1943

This scene is possibly near St Catherine's

Stoke Park 1941

William Aldersey prospered as a member of the East India Company. He bought the house he named Stoke Park in 1781, and added adjacent farmland. He planted trees - including this Scots pine - and laid it out in the contemporary tradition of landscape gardening.

Guildford Museum and Castle Arch 1943

To the right of the gateway of 1256 stands the house, Castle Arch, built in 1630. Since 1898 it has housed Guildford Museum. The tree to the left and part of the wall were removed around 1970 to construct an entrance to the Castle Cliffe Gardens.

River Wey 1944

This scene is possibly Shalford Meadows on the opposite bank.

Old Jacobean Hostel 1944

This early 17th century 'hall and crosswings' house stands in Joseph road, Stoke. It was probably built as a farmhouse, and if it ever were an alehouse, no records have survived.

Abbots Hospital 1947

George Abbot became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1611, and wealthy as a consequence. In 1622 he built a 'hospital' or almshouse in his home town of Guildford. In the rather outmoded Tudor brick style it copies Oxford colleges in which he had spent most of his life.

Portrait of Franz Osborn pianist 1944

This portrait sketch is of the distinguished pianist Franz Osborn, a Jewish refugee who became a naturalised British Citizen in 1947 and died in 1955. It is dated 1944, and internal evidence suggests that all these views were executed within a period of a few years on either side of that date.

During Air Raid 1941

Lewis Carroll's House

The Chestnuts, Castle Hill was built in about 1861 and was acquired by the Rev. Charles Dodgson - "Lewis Carroll" - in 1868 as a home for his sisters. He actually lived in Oxford, where he taught mathematics at Christ Church, but often stayed at The Chestnuts. It was here that he died in 1898.

Guildford - The River Wey and my Daughters Barbara and Anne

The River Wey at Guildford

Summer day on the River Wey, Guildford

Guildford - Stoke Park - Waterside

Guildford Grammer School