Description

KINGSTON UPON HULL

680-1/4/123 COTTINGHAM ROAD
21-JAN-94 (North side)
UNIVERSITY OF HULL VENN BUILDING

(Formerly listed as:
COTTINGHAM ROAD
UNIVERSITY OF HULL ADMINISTRATION BLOCK)

GV II
University Administration Building. 1927. By WA Forsyth & Partners.

Brick with ashlar dressings and hipped plain tile and flat copper roofs and 9 coped brick ridge stacks. Neo-Georgian style. Plinth and moulded eaves. 2 and 3 storeys plus attics; 15x16 windows. Square plan with inner courtyard. Each front has projecting end pavilions. Windows are mainly wooden framed cross casements with leaded glazing.

EXTERIOR
Eastern entrance front has a projecting centre, 3 windows, with shallow pilasters and angle pilasters, and rusticated quoins to the ground floor. In the centre, a 3-light window with moulded sill, flanked by single-light windows and beyond, larger 2-light windows. Above, 2 box dormers with 2-light casements. Below, central rebated round-arched doorway with hoodmould, panelled double doors and glazing bar fanlight, flanked by single-light windows and beyond, 2-light windows. To left, a range with a central 3-light window flanked by single 2-light windows on each floor, and above, 3 hipped dormers with cross casements. To right, a similar range with a central 3-light window flanked to right by another 3-light window and to left by a single window. Above, 3 hipped dormers and below, a 3-light window flanked to left by a single window and to right by a 2-light one. Left pavilion has a central 3-light window flanked by recessed panels, each with a round-arched blank. Below, a 3-light window flanked by single 2-light windows. Right pavilion has on each floor a 3-light window flanked by single 2-light windows. South front, to left, has a symmetrical range with 3-light and 2-light windows on each floor and above, 8 hipped dormers with cross casements. End pavilions have shallow pilasters and angle pilasters and rusticated quoins to ground floor. On each floor, a 3-light window flanked by 2-light windows, and above, 2 hipped dormers. West front has a projecting centre with three 3-light window and above, 2 hipped dormers. Below, round-arched doorway flanked by 2-light windows. On either side, ranges with four 2-light windows on each floor and 3 dormers. Pavilions have on each floor a 3-light window flanked by 2-light windows, and above, a hipped dormer with a 3-light window. 3-storey north elevation has a central range with a 2-light window flanked by single windows, and beyond, two 2-light windows. Above, 5 dormers. Pavilions have a 3-light window on each floor towards the centre, and a 4-light box dormer. Courtyard has regular fenestration and box dormers. To east, projecting centre, 3 storeys, with projecting entrance bay with a Venetian window and above, a 7-light dormer. Below, a doorway flanked by single windows. Beyond, on each floor, a 2-light window, the ground floor one transomed. To north-west and south-west, extruded corners, the south-west one 5 storeys, with a mansard roof.

INTERIOR
Cantilevered concrete dogleg staircase with patterned cast-iron balustrade and ramped scrolled wooden handrail.

HISTORY
The University College, jointly endowed by TR Ferens and the City of Hull, became a full university in 1954.

SOURCES:
Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Yorkshire; York and the East Riding: London: 1972-: 285.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The University of Hull Venn Building is designated at grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Significance: The building demonstrates a strong expression of the Neo-Georgian style by the architectural practice of WA Forsyth and Partners. It has a relatively unaltered exterior.
Historical Value: It is associated with the well known Hull philanthropist T.R. Ferens, who jointly endowed the University College along with the City of Hull.
Group Value: It forms a group with the grade II listed University of Hull Cohen Building (formerly Earth Sciences Block) also by WA Forsyth and Partners.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26581002

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)