Historic Jersey buildings
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Property name
24-24½ Queen Street
Location
Queen Street, St Helier
Type of property
Pair of 19th century shops
Valuations
No recent transactions
Families and businesses associated with the property
Painter and glazier J Payn was here in 1833-34. The 1851 census records the presence of shoemaker Thomas Le Rossignol, born in St Peter in 1806, assisted in his business by his wife Ann, nee Gumbrell (1811- ) Jane Mary (1836- ), Eliza (1839- ), Emily (1842- ), Mary Ann (1845- ), Ann (1848- ), Peter Thomas (1851- ). Oddly the enumerator has recorded all the children as shoe makers. Peter Thomas must have been a lot of help at the age of four months. We have not been able to trace the family's ancestry; we believe that a leap of 50 years in the Le Rossignol baptisms suggests that there is a page missing from the Jersey Archive folder of St Peter transcriptions.
This property appears to have become an inn by 1861, although we do not know the name. The occupants listed in the census were Jacques Louise, an innkeeper born in France in 1809, married to Nancy, born in Jersey in 1827. They had a daughter Eleanore, born in 1855.
Inn
It may be that the inn was elsewhere and the Louise family were simply living at No 24, but the listing of several boarders including blacksmiths, musicians and a shoe maker, lends weight to the probability that the premises were being used as a hotel, perhaps an extension of the Exeter next door. However, the 1851 census also shows Frenchman Victor Fautrac (1803- ) as landlord of No 24, living with his wife Ann (1897- ) and daughter Appoline Euphrasie (1836-1878). Born in St Lo, she would eventually marry Jules Amand Gautier. The census lists a number of individual occupants here, all suggesting that it may bave been a separate establishment to the Exeter.
Locksmith By 1871 the occupants were Peter Le Blond, a locksmith born in France in 1818 and his wife Mary (1821- ). By 1874 Peter appears to have changed his trade to tobacconist. He was followed by another tobacconist, Philip George Mallet, born in St Lawrence in 1833. He was living with his English-born wife Annie (1839- ) and children Clement (1835- ), Rachel Betsy (1837- ) and John (1840- ). Annie must have been his second wife because baptism registers show the children's mother as Rachel Lesbirel. Also in the household was Philip's 70-year-old mother Mary. She was Mary Elizabeth Allix, who married Philippe Mallet in St Helier in 1828.
Nurseryman
The property was divided at this time and No 24½ was occupied by baby linen manufacturers Rosa Aubin (1830- ) and her sister Maria (1836- ). By 1890 H Becker was trading here. The following year's census identifies him as Hermann Becker (1863- ) a nurseryman, florist and fruit grower born in Germany in 1863. He was living with his wife Martha Elizabeth, nee Reeks (1852- ) and children Hermann (1888- ), Stanley Henry (1889- ) and Phylis (1890- ). This was clearly a town outlet for Mr Becker's Caesarean Nurseries, in St Saviour. He also had a shop in Beresford Street.
Henry Allix
An 1895 almanac gives the first mention of Henry Allix at No 24, and also of Philip du Heaume, at 24½. As we have already seen, he would later move to No 20, with Henri Ricordeau (1876-1944), a French watchmaker, and his Jersey-born wife Louise, nee Novert (1880-1953) taking his place here in 1900. They then moved to No 54 King Street and were followed by A H Yvon in 1910, J E Blake in 1950 and '60, and then Fior.
Henry Allix, born in St Helier in 1853 was a tobacconist, but he was also a well-known publisher of postcards in the early 20th century. He was married to Sophie Jane, nee Le Sueur (1857-1944) and they had seven children.
Henry did not take the photographs for his cards, as is sometimes erroneously stated, and it is thought that the majority were taken by his French photographer friend J Bienaime, between 1905 and Henry's death in 1914. His business was still being run at No 24 through to 1950, and he had another shop in Mulcaster Street. No 24 was the Record Shop in 1960, followed by Artistique and Jersey Pearl.
Historic Environment Record entry
Listed building
A pair of late 19th century shops with some original external features making a positive contribution to the streetscape. A single build comprising a pair of mirrored shops. three storeys, one bay each. Pitched slate roof with rendered end stacks.
Interior: Partial stair from first floor to attic with turned balusters, chunky rounded handrail and no newel post; two plain 19th century fireplaces in upper front room and rear wing; evidence of link through between 24 and 24½
