Whitehull HU1

The magnificent municipal building of The Guildhall in Kingston Upon Hull has few rivals outside of the nation’s Capital and indeed it is still regularly used to recreate a movie scene of Whitehall, London  and very effectively so. 

This great civic edifice nearly didn’t happen as the existing Town Hall by local architect Cuthbert Brodrick built to show off the wealth of the Port of Hull in 1862 was deemed to be appropriate even after the granting of City status in 1897. 

The Brodrick design was a fancy Italianate building and easily took on a large extended floor area to provide law courts, council chamber and offices which was completed by 1911. 

However, there were obviously even greater ambitions of grandeur amongst the decision makers and in a competition open to one and all in the Architectural world.

A thirty year old, Edwin Cooper of the firm Russell, Cooper, Davis and Mallows won the commission, his first major job, and his design replaced the mid nineteenth century original. 

Although giving the impression of being a very old building the Cooper design was only completed in 1916. 

The elevation to Lowgate comprises nine bays under a recessed portico of coupled columns and topped with a three stage, symmetrically faced clock tower which today sounds out tunefully across the roofscape of central Hull. I just heard it a couple of days ago for the first time in a while and it is quite hauntingly beautiful in its clarity. 

Just below the clock is an open Corinthian arcade and to emphasise the global reach of Hull in trade, commerce and shipping there is a representation of the sphere of the world. 

It is however the long south elevation onto Alfred Gelder Street that is the most striking and splendid. 

The Ancaster stone is warm and textural, although on walking past on the pavement the ravages of a century of Yorkshire weather can be seen in eroded and etched detail on the large dressed blocks. 

The design is very much in the style of the National Monument in Rome to Vittorio Emanuele II, the first unified king of Italy which had only just been completed in 1911 and was much admired and influential with designers for its statement of grandiose patriotism. It was fondly referred to as The Wedding Cake because of its colossal white marble layered shape. 

The Guildhall is by comparison understated and mellow in stone but at thirty five bays in length between columns it would not look out of place in any great continental state capital. 

At the centre of this imposing façade is a giant recessed arch on Corinthian columns with a seated figure representing Justice. Flanking this statement of legal power are fifteen bay colonnades of Darley Dale stone. 

The western end of the building is dominated by a huge statue to Maritime Prowess in the form of a female figure standing at the bows of a boat drawn by seahorses and at the eastern end it is balanced up by Britannia as the strength of a nation in her chariot in the company of lions. 

It is a shame that much of this show of civic pride is either missed or unappreciated as the building can only really be seen at an offset angle from the open aspect to the city centre or when coming into town over the river. Leeds and Bradford Town Halls respectively are better regarded because of their domination of a square or piazza giving an unrestricted and full on view. 

The domed cupola from Brodricks demolished building now sits on an embankment just across the road from where I live in Pearson Park. 

As for the interior of The Guildhall it is pretty grand as well but apart from having to go there to pay bills or attend a function I would rather just stand about on Alfred Gelder Street and try to take in the magnificent features of what is an apt and fitting monument to this great Yorkshire city and its people.