A Tour of Onchan 2
Round The Edges.

Alberta Drive

This was part of the Douglas Bay Estate Company’s development of the Howstrake Farm. The first houses to be built here were the top six on the left hand side going down (60 – 50). Their builder was Leece Skillicorn, a cousin of Sam and J.T. Skillicorn and they were complete by 1900 so they just fall into the Victorian period. They were called Alberta Terrace and numbered down from the top in consecutive numbers. The taller houses on the opposite side of the road were called Alberta Villas but the terrace was never finished either going up or going down. The top two houses were built by Robert Skillicorn whereas the lower two, which are of a different style, were built on land owned by Mr Tyrell, Civil Engineer.

Alberta Drive showing the youngest houses in the foreground, these were complete at the time of the outbreak of the First World War. On the end of the terrace Alberta Cottage differs from its neighbours by having its front door in the side which makes it look larger than the others yet it is the same size.

They were complete in 1903 and the Skillicorn two in 1912. Alberta Terrace was extended a couple of houses at a time until the bottom property, Alberta Cottage, was built in 1914. The two pairs of bow windowed semi-detached houses below Alberta Villas were built in 1937-38.

47 Alberta Drive/28 Summerhill Road

This corner property was built in 1950 on what had been a vacant plot for many years. Mr Jack Stodhard, a joiner whose grandfather has come to the island to work on the construction of the Queens Pier in Ramsey, built the house for himself – truly the “House that Jack built”.

Incorporated into the design was a small shop with a doorway onto a paved area facing Summerhill Road. This was run by Mrs Stodhard for the sale of sweets and pop. Some years later it was taken over by Mr & Mrs Parker followed by Mr Kelly of Liverpool who renamed it Kelly’s Corner Shop which sold groceries, stationary etc in a much extended ground floor building. In 1998 the shop was converted into a separate housing unit ancillary to the house which was itself then used for B&B called “The Corner House”.

Christian Terrace, Summerhill Road

Here we have two terraces bearing the same name. They were both built on land purchased by Robert Skillicorn and called after his wife’s maiden name. The upper terrace is both the older and and plainer with the land having been purchased from the Howstrake Farm by Robert Skillicorn in 1888.

This terrace was similar to his cottages in Governors Road, St Catherine’s Terrace and Mount View Terrace (see Tour No 1) and of course was let to working class people as was his preference. The second terrace have bay windows and a small front garden, they also have a rear outlet but it was not until 1936 that they had a bathroom and toilet added at first floor level to the designs of T.H. Kennaugh, architect of Douglas. J.T. Skillicorn lived in one of these houses for a while and he had a corrugated iron workshop erected on the land at the rear of this terrace. It was finally demolished after standing for nearly 100 years.

Coutts Bank

The mature trees surrounding this property owe their existence to the house that once stood on this site. A house was built on a plot originally purchased by William and Isabella Cross from Robert Banks, owner of the Howstrake and Ballachurry Farms in 1811 for £10. The house was built close to the new road (Governors Road) and had its entrance in the side gable. The garden was extended by further purchases of land in 1835, 1886 and 1888 until it formed a large space with central lawn, a kitchen garden adjoining the side of Skillicorns Cottages (38 – 42 Governors Road) and the Primitive Methodist Chapel. The boundary wall to Summerhill Road was built in stone with a castlelated top whilst the cast iron entrance gates were set within gate pillars and curved walls that were rendered and painted. One pillar still remains on the downside of the present entrance but it is partially hidden by bushes.

Ballacurrie House taken during its demolition when it was hardly looking at its best. This Georgian house was "modernised" in Victorian times by the addition of the bay windows on the front elevation facing the garden. The back of the house was only a few feet away from Governors Road despite the large garden in the front of it.

The house was called “Ballacurrie House” and occupied in the late 1890s by Frederick George Callow and his wife the former Miss Travis. He was brought up in Hawthorn Villa, the home of his widowed mother and previously that of his grandmother Mrs Chubb (see Tour No 1). His father was Samuel Shallcross Callow who drowned on a fishing trip one night in August 1871 whilst in a rowing boat with friends setting out from Onchan Harbour and being found the next morning on Groudle beach.

Frederick was to inherit the huge Howstrake Estate but in the meantime it was held by Trustees, one of whom was to become his father-in-law. When he married, in October 1894 the people of Onchan strung a banner across the road at The Butt between the top two houses to wish happiness to the couple. He was educated at King William’s College, trained and qualified as a advocate (1889), became the first chairman of Onchan Parish (1894) and then Onchan Village Commissioners (1895) and was the elected to the House of Keys to represent Middle in 1898.

Such was the jubilation of his success that when he returned from the poll count in Douglas the locals unhitched his horse from his carriage which they pulled through the village and back again to his house. Life however was not to be rosy for much longer. The crash of Dumbell’s Bank in February 1900 affected many but F.G. Callow in a large way because of the involvement of the company developing the Howstrake Farm with the bank and also because of his involvement with other related ventures.

Coutts Bank front elevation facing Summerhill Road. The building also has a full basement which does not show in the photograph. The car park surrounding the building is used each year for the start of the Torchlight Parade.

So ashamed was he of the situation that he immediately resigned from the commissioners, the House of Keys and all his other commitments and then left the island. In England he found employment as the Secretary of a golf club perhaps through his previous involvement as Captain of the Howstrake Golf Club in Onchan. He returned to the island in 1927 a broken man in ill health. He died on 5th January 1929 in a small terraced house in Dukes Road, Douglas. Ballacurrie House was demolished in 1989 and this large office block was built to the designs of The Ellis Brown Partnership of Douglas. The rustic brick building being set more or less in the position of the former lawn. Part of the bluebell woods disappeared to make way for car parking.

48 – 50 Summerhill Road

This pair of semi-detached houses were designed in 1938 by T.H. Kennaugh for J.T. Skillicorn. Number 50 is still occupied by one of his grandsons and was greatly extended in 1971 on the elevation to Hague Drive.

Onto Hague Drive