A Brief Look at Huddersfield Town Centre

 

A keystone on the Britannia Buildings

Leaving Halifax on the No. 501 bus, I arrived at Huddersfield bus station at 4:25 pm and had just over 45 minutes before my hourly train to Sheffield departed, so I spent the time having a very quick walk around the Town Centre Conservation Area to photograph some of the listed buildings.

 

Listed buildings in Huddersfield town centre

Having briefly visited Huddersfield a few times, I was aware that the vast majority of these have been built with the medium grained sandstone from the Rough Rock that is still quarried at Crosland Hill and a lasting memory is that the wealth generated by its textile industry is expressed in its very many fine examples of architectural sculpture. 

 

Nos. 4 and 6 High Street

The mid C19 Grade II listed Nos. 4 and 6 High Street first caught my eye, mainly for the elaborate stone carving, which Historic England (HE) describes as "Wealth of high quality ornamental carving, rarely repeating itself: eg 6 keystones with masks, sculpted spandrels to archway and 1st floor windows, Romanesque capitals to colonnettes, and bands of foliage around voussoirs of doors and archway, and under 1st floor sills". 

 

Detailing above the west door

The voussoirs of the arches are made of red sandstone which, in buildings of this age, I usually associate with Red Mansfield stone, a sandy variety of the Permian Cadeby Formation that is classified as a dolomitic sandstone. 

 

A colonnette made of dark Shap granite

 

I was interested to see that dark Shap granite from Shap Fell in Cumbria, with its distinctive rectangular phenocrysts, has been used for the colonnettes on the ground floor and for most of the windows on the upper storeys. The Guide to the Building Stones of Huddersfield booklet notes that a grey granite, probably the Rubislaw variety from Aberdeen, has also been used for colonnettes on the upper storeys but, quite strangely, HE describe all of the colonnettes as polished marble. 

 

Guide to the Building Stones of Huddersfield

 

Continuing along High Street, the former Prudential Assurance Buildings (No. 71 New Street) was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and completed in 1898 and is built with red brick with red/brown terracotta dressings, which is a characteristic of other branches that I have seen in Leeds (1891), Nottingham (1890) and Sheffield (1896). 

 

The former Prudential Assurance Buildings

 

The plinth and the colonnettes to the doorway on New Street are made of pink Peterhead granite, which HE again describe as marble. The differences between sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks are taught to schoolchildren aged 7 to 8 as part of Key Stage 3 Science in the National Curriculum and it is therefore quite shocking that the HE fieldworker did not know that granite and not marble has been used here and at Nos. 6 and 8 High Street. 

 

Pink Peterhead granite at the former Prudential Assurance Buildings

 

Continuing down Ramsey Street, I next encountered the Grade II listed Huddersfield Town Hall, which is built in two phases: the municipal offices fronting Ramsey Street (1878) and the 3-storey concert hall (1881) forming the southern Princess Street end. 

 

The municipal offices at Huddersfield Town Hall

Its designer was the Huddersfield Borough Engineer, John Henry Abbey, who was assisted by Frederick Wild of Huddersfield and Mr. B. Stocks of Huddersfield was brought in as a consultant after the death of Abbey in 1880 – as reported on pp. 543-540 in the 22nd October 1881 issue of Building News – and it is designed with the Corinthian order of the Classical style. 

 

The entrance to the concert hall on Princess Street

Medium grained gritstone from Crosland Moor was selected for the building and the architectural sculptor was Thomas Stocks, from nearby Berry Brow. The Hudersfield Public Arts Trail states that Matthew Hale, Friedrich Handel, William Hogarth, Isaac Newton, William Shakespeare and James Watt are depicted on the keystones, but I just took a few quick snaps of a few that caught my eye on the Princess Street elevation. 

 

Sculpted keystones on the Princess Street elevation

I wanted to have another look at the sculptures by James Woodford in front of Huddersfield Library and Art Gallery (1937), but the area was closed off due to the creation of the new library hub. I continued along Cross Church Street to the Grade II* listed St. Peter's church (1836) by J.P. Pritchett of York, where I just took general photos of each elevation. 

 

Views of St. Peter's church

 

Opposite the church, the keystone a nd the surrround to the southern entrance of Kirkgate Buildings are more fine examples of architectural sculpture, with similar quality work also seen on the Kirkgate elevation, but HE have removed this building from the Heritage list. 

 

A keystone on Kirkgate Buildngs

 

Making my back towards the railway station along John William Street, I took very quick snaps of the Grade II* listed Britannia Buildings (c.1858) by the local architect William Cocking, which were originally built as a warehouse, showroom and offices. 

 

The east elevation of Britannia Buildings

It is designed in the Neoclassical architecture in the grand palazzo style, with the John William Street elevation especially being adorned with yet more examples of high quality sculptural work to the keystones and decorative detailing. 

 

Sculpted keystones on Britannia Buildings

 

HE describe that this was built on the site originally reserved for the town hall and is one of Huddersfield’s mid-C19 purpose-built commercial premises built as part of the Ramsden Estate’s planned New Town development. It further adds that remodelling in the 1920s included shopfronts on the St. George’s Square elevation, with an eclectic mix of classical and Egyptian motifs. 

 

The north elevation of Britannia Buildings

 

At parapet level on the St. George’s Square elevation, the balustrade has large gadrooned urns and the central segmental section has the Royal Arms sculpted in high relief and is topped with a large sculpture of Britannia and a lion. 

 

The Royal Arms and the sculpture of Britannia

With just a few minutes before I had to catch my train back to Sheffield, after another great day out, the last building that I photographed was the Grade II* listed Lion Buildings (1853), another building by J.P. Pritchett, on the east side of St. George’s Square. I was particularly interested in the large lion, which I thought is made of Portland limestone but which is in fact a fibreglass replica that was installed in 1978 after the disintegration of the original lion by John Seeley.

 

The glass fibre lion at Lion Buildings

An Exploration of Halifax - Part 6

 

A grotesque at St. Mary's church on Gibbet Street

Leaving the People’s Park at the north-east entrance on Park Road, I turned down Hopwood Lane and the building on the corner with Margaret Street immediately caught my eye – Sir Francis Crossley’s Almshouses (1855) by Roger Ives, who also designed the Joseph Crossley Almshouses (1863). 

 

The Sir Francis Crossley Almshouses

 

This was not part of my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge and I just took a single photograph that shows the principal features of its Tudor Gothic style, as described by Historic England (HE), including a castellated tower and turret, mullioned and transomed windows and prominent chimney stacks. 

 

Crossley House

 

Immediately next to this is Crossley House (1857), which was built as the private residence of Sir Francis Crossley in a later C17/early C18 French style by G.H. Stokes, who was the assistant of Sir Joseph Paxton and designed the Crossley Pavilion. The house was sold to the Halifax Corporation and then used as a public library and museum, but it is now a wedding venue and I just took a single photograph through the railings before continuing along Hopwood Lane. 

 

Views of the former Park Congregational Church

 

From the entrance of No. 56 Hopwood Lane, I got a view of the east elevation of the former Park Congregational Church (1869), which is largely obscured by the mature trees in its grounds and I didn’t get a good view of this or get close enough to take a look at the stone used – as was the case with the Crossley House and the Sir Francis Crossley Almshouses. 

 

The south eelvation

 

According to the Halifaxpeople.com website, the architect Roger Ives also designed the church, which was built on land purchased by Sir Francis Crossley, who also donated £1000 to the building cost and laid the foundation stone in 1867. The press cutting reproduced on this website states that the stone was obtained from one of the many quarries working the Elland Flags in the village of Southowram, which is set on the hills to the east of Halifax.

 

The 1854 Ordnance Survey map showing Bellevue Hall

 

Looking at the 1854 Ordnance Survey map, apart from a few large houses with spacious grounds, including Bellevue Hall which Sir Francis Crossley purchased and incorporated into Crossley Hall, the area – now included in the People’s Park Conservation Area - was mainly rural and was radically transformed by the philanthropy of the Crossley family.

 

The mortuary chapel in the Lister Lane Cemetery

 

The next building on my Photo Challenge was the early/mid C19 mortuary chapel in the Lister Lane Cemetery but, arriving at the Gibbet Street entrance, I found that the gates were locked and I was only able to take a photo from a distance. 

 

St. Mary's Roman Catholic church on Gibbet Street

 

Continuing along Gibbet Street, I wasn’t aware that on its north side is yet another example of John Crossley’s generosity - the West Hill Park model housing estate (1868) designed by Paull and Ayliff - and I carried on until I reached St. Mary’s Roman Catholic church (1839).

 

A detail of St. Mary's church

This is not a listed building, but it is another example of the use of sandstone from the Elland Flags and has some interesting architectural sculpture above the entrance, which includes a relief carving of the Madonna and winged beasts on the cornice above.

 

The Halifax Gibbet

 

A little further along the road is the Halifax Gibbet, where a replica of this early type of guillotine stands on its original sandstone base. The accompanying information board provides an interesting account of its history and suggests that it was apparently unique in the country, with HE assigning a date of probably C17 or earlier. 

 

The information board at the Halifax Gibbet

 

Approaching the crossing of Burdock Way, I was interested to see the Halifax Elim Pentecostal church (1972), by C.S. Oldfield, which has a striking ‘corrugated’ copper roof and cladding with what appears to be Portland stone, but I didn't have a close look at the building.

 

The Halifax Elim Pentecostal church

Making my way back through Halifax town centre to the bus station, the last building on my Photo Challenge was Nos. 18-22 Northgate, but I discovered that these C19 houses have been demolished and replaced by the Northgate House development, which is clad in a sandstone that I have never encountered before.

 

Northgate House

 

The People's Park in Halifax

 

The terrace at the People's Park

Arriving at the People’s Park to continue my exploration of Halifax, the next 'building' on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge were the Grade II listed gate piers which, as at the south-east entrance, appear to be built using Elland Flags sandstone and not the Rough Rock. 

 

Gate piers at the south entrance

 

Entering the park, I didn’t see any information about its history, but it is considered to be one of the finest surviving examples of a 'Joseph Paxton, park, which was created in 1857 and was donated to the people of Halifax by Sir Francis Crossley of John Crossley and Sons - the largest manufacturer of carpets in the world, based at the complex of mills at Dean Clough. 

 

The southern steps to the terrace

 

Approaching the southern steps of the western terrace, which was not part of my Photo Challenge, I was reminded of the upper terrace (1854) at Crystal Palace Park, which was designed by Paxton when the Crystal Palace was relocated there from Hyde Park in 1851. 

 

A Carrara marble urn

 

On a lesser scale, the use of balustrades and large pediments with Grade II* listed white Carrara marble urns and statues by the sculptor Francesco Bienaimé - Hercules, Venus, Diana, Telemachus, Sophocles, a Neapolitan music girl, a dancing girl (after Canova) and the now missing Apollo – are presumably based on Paxton’s earlier work. 

 

Statues on the terrace

As seen with many marble statues, monuments and memorials that have been placed outside and subjected to the British climate, the statues at the People’s Park have not weathered very well and some of them have lost their sharp details and sometimes part of their arms. 

 

A detail of the Neapolitan music girl

Continuing along the terrace, the Grade II* listed Crossley Pavilion was designed by G.H. Stokes, who was articled to Sir George Gilbert Scott before joining Paxton at the Chatsworth Estate, where Historic England (HE) state that Dorset House and The Square in Beeley are possibly attributed to him. 

 

Views of the Crossley Pavilion

 

It is built in a Classical style using sandstone from the Elland Flags, with screen walls, fountain pools, mask and shell fountains and decorated keystones. The large apse in the rear of the pavilion contains a seated figure of Sir Francis Crossley, carved in white Carrara marble by Joseph Duham, which is surrounded by iron railings. 

 

Sculptural details on the Crossley Pavilion

 

The People’s Park is a Grade II* listed park and garden and much of the northern end is landscaped with large blocks of gritstone to form a large rockery, the sides of the path from Hopwood Lane and alongside the serpentine pond on the east side of the park. 

 

Views of gritstone blocks used for landscaping

 

I managed to obtain a small piece of gritstone, which is coarse grained and undoubtedly from the Rough Rock, which underlies the park. It is quite likely that the gritstone was obtained during the landscaping of the park and, as seen at the Rock Garden at Chatsworth House, Paxton had by now mastered the movement of extremely large blocks of stone. 

 

A piece of Rough Rock from the rockery

The next ‘listed building’ on my Photo Challenge was a sundial that is one of two that HE  listed in the park, but which the southern one seems to have been removed. Dated 1858, it is made with fine/medium grained sandstone that is again very probably from the Elland Flags, with its inscription recording that it was a gift from Alderman Matthew Smith in 1873.

 

The north sundial

Although not part of my Photo Challenge, the Grade II* listed fountain (c.1856), with a Carrara marble statue and dolphins, was relocated from the Winter Garden at Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk c.1914 and replaced Paxton’s original fountain, which was a series of jets in concentric circles. 

 

The fountain

 

The drinking fountain, which is Grade II listed for group value is dated by HE as probably later C19 and the inscription records that it was a gift by J. Thorp, which research indicates was the Quaker Joseph Thorp - the president of the Temperance League - and that it was donated in 1857. 

 

The drinking fountain

 

After taking photos of the south and north bridges, I finished my very brief walk around the People’s Park to photograph the gate piers at the north-east entrance, before heading off to find the last two buildings on my Photo Challenge. 

 

The gate piers at the north-east entrance

An Exploration of Halifax - Part 5

 

A detail of the former Halifax Public Baths

Leaving Carlton Street to continue my exploration of Halifax, the next building on my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge was Nos. 2 and 4 West Parade – a pair of late C18/early C19 houses, for which the Historic England (HE) description is not particularly informative. 

 

Nos 2 and 4 West Parade

 

Taking note the area of land to the north of Kent Street that is now used as a car park, but which the 1894 Ordnance Survey (OS) map shows was once occupied by terraced houses - including back to backs – I continued along Arches Street (previously named Archer Street) past the former worsted mills until I reached King Cross Street.

 

Now demolished terraced housing shown on the 1894 OS map

 

The Halifax Playhouse was built in 1836 as the Methodist New Connexion Chapel, but was converted to a theatre by the Halifax Thespians in 1947. Thin courses of Elland Flags sandstone has been used for the walling, but the portico is made from massive blocks of uniformly buff coloured sandstone. 

 

The Halifax Playhouse

 

HE describe it as "Early/mid C19. Formerly a chapel. Stone building with 2 tiers of windows, upper ones round-arched. Pedimented main (south) elevation framed by pair of strip pilasters and with Greek Doric entrance portico (disused)". 

 

The gate piers at the Halifax Playhouse

 

I just took a few photos from a distance, including the gate piers that are included in the listing, and can't tell if the massive sandstone is from the Elland Flags or is a coarser grained gritstone from the Rough Rock, which I had only seen at Halifax Minster and the Piece Hall despite being quarried in several places around Halifax. 

 

Views of the former Halifax Public Baths

Continuing along the dual carriageway section of King Cross Street, my next building to photograph was the former Halifax Public Baths (1859), the conversion of which into use by the King's Church in 2001 earned a Halifax Civic Trust Award.

 

The Halifax Civic Society Award plaque

The baths were donated to the people of Halifax by the Crossley family – the owners of the largest manufacturer or carpets in the world at Dean Clough - and were built by the Borough Engineer George Wilson Stevenson, who also submitted a design for Halifax Town Hall, with HE stating that it was possibly designed by Sir Joseph Paxton and/or George Henry Stokes. 

 

The south-east entrance to the People's Park

Although I didn't look at the sandstone closely, its distinctly yellow colour suggests that this is another use of the massive variety of the Elland Flags, which also appears to have been used for the gate piers and walls at the south-east entrance to the People's Park – although the upper section of the left pier has been replaced with sandstone that has developed a greyish patina. 

 

The south elevation of the former Halifax Public Baths

 

Retuning to King Cross Road, after taking a photo of the former public baths from another angle, I crossed over the road and carried on until I reached the junction with Arden Road, where there is another example of the influence of the Crossley family. 

 

The west range of the Joseph Crossley Almshouses

The Joseph Crossley Almshouses (1863), according to HE,  were designed by Roger Ives as a large group of Gothic style buildings that are set around a garden court, which includes a central castellated tower with a stair turret and a large chapel. 

 

The north range

 

Being private property, I just took a couple of quick snaps from the entrance and didn't spent closely inspect the sandstone used for its rock-faced walling, which has developed a uniformly grey patina and is quite unlike the yellowish Elland Flags sandstone that I had seen in several  contemporary buildings in the town centre. 

 

The north gateway

After taking a couple of photos of the north gateway and the attached boundary wall for my Photo Challenge, I took a couple of photos of the late C18/early C19 West House, before crossing back over King Cross Road and entering the People's Park.

 

West House