Description

1033/0/10041 MARKET PLACE
09-DEC-09 HYDE TOWN HALL

II
Town Hall. 1883-5 by James William Beaumont, with 1913 extension. Red brick in English bond, with sandstone dressings. Slate roofs with brick stacks.

PLAN: Original building is a long range fronting Market Street, with a corridor to the rear running the length of each floor with offices opening off the NE side. Central wing to the rear, containing in part the main staircase, and a southern wing bounding Corporation Street, containing the council chamber on the first floor, with an adjacent mayor's parlour in the main range. In the basement is a single holding cell, and a former strong room, with a separate staircase. 1913 extension provides a large first-floor public hall built over rear yard, with entrance and stair hall off Corporation Street. In the south corner of the complex is a former police station on the ground floor with a former magistrates' court (police or petty sessions court until 1949) on the first floor. Attached to the NW side of the police station is a block of ground-floor and basement cells with a narrow basement exercise yard. The NW range contains various rooms and WCs on the ground floor of the west corner.

EXTERIOR: Main Elevation on Market Street is two storeys over a basement, with 11 ground-floor bays, the two outermost at each end projecting forward to form pavilions, with hipped roofs with finials, that to the right with weather vane. It has a stone basement plinth with bands of rustication, brick pilasters topped by stone ball finials, a stone entablature with relief swags, a brick parapet with stone coping, red ridge tiles to the slate roofs, and tall ribbed stacks, one to each outer wall, and two ridge stacks. In bay six is the central entrance and tall six-stage clock tower. Main entrance doorway is round-headed with a stone surround with wide pilasters with fluted capitals, and giant curved brackets supporting a balcony over an entablature with relief carved swags to the frieze. Panels of decorative relief carving set in front face of brackets and spandrels. Double doors, each with 10 fielded panels, and fanlight with leaded stained glass. Above, square tower projects slightly with pilasters and stone banding and entablatures. Stage 2 has balcony with turned balusters, and a stone mullion and transom window with broken pediment containing borough coat of arms. Stage 5 has circular clock faces set in moulded stone frames to each elevation, with an octagonal cupola with a louvred arcade, containing a set of bells, and an octagonal dome with finial. The first floor of the range has three stone oriel windows with moulded corbels, one between bays one and two, and in bays four and eight. The left oriel lights the mayor's parlour. The corbel rests on a pilaster topped by a stone panel with a relief carved borough coat of arms, and includes a band of undercut foliage. The mullion and transom window has a stone parapet with turned balusters, central relief carved panel and scrolled pediment. Flanking each of the oriels are two narrow transom windows, with a mullion and transom window in bays 10 and 11. The windows on the ground floor are four-light mullion and transom windows. All the windows have stone frames; those on the first floor have leaded upper lights and the lower lights to the windows in bays one to three have leaded margin lights. The ground-floor windows to the right of the main entrance have BOROUGH TREASURER etched across the bottom of the lower lights. The basement windows have rounded corners.

The three right-hand bays of the Corporation Street elevation are part of the original building and have a similar wall stack and ridge stack. A central oriel has a similar stone parapet and scrolled pediment, with a brick pediment above with terracotta relief detailing with a panel dated AD 1884. Flanking the oriel are six-light mullion and transom windows with leaded upper lights and margin lights. The ground floor has a six-light and a four-light mullion and transom window with a doorway with overlight in bay three with narrow adjacent window. To the left is the 1913 extension, which is similarly detailed but plainer than the original building. Four projecting bays have a triangular pediment over the two central bays with a circular window. On the ground floor are two double doorways between which is a granite foundation stone dated 1913. The windows have stone mullion and transom frames, those to the first floor with triangular pediments. Abutting is three-bay gable wall of two storeys and an attic. Ground-floor central window altered to form doorway and window, original doorway in bay three with overlight and panelled double doors. On Water Street; from right, a former police station and magistrates' court of two storeys and six bays. In bay four is a doorway with stone surround and triangular pediment with date 1913 inscribed on the lintel. Mullion and transom stone frame windows to other bays. To left gable wall is first-floor Diocletian type window. Abutting is a single-storey and basement cell block of three bays. Two small cell windows with metal bars in bays one and two, with doorway with six-panel door and four-panel overlight in bay three. To rear is first-floor public hall with round-headed windows over yard with entrance adjacent to cell block. To left of entrance is three-bay side elevation of a two-storey block on Greenfield Street. Originally with two four-light mullion and transom windows on each floor, that in bay one on ground floor converted to a doorway, with an original doorway in bay three. Greenfield elevation dates from 1913. Range comprises nine bays of two tall storeys and four bays of two lower bays at right-hand end. Façade projects slightly from bay five. Bays five to nine form symmetrical arrangement with a hipped roof and triangular pediment over three central bays and a doorway in each of the outer bays. There are also original doorways in bays 2, 11 and 14.

INTERIOR: The main entrance and staircase hall of the original building has ground and first-floor arcades of four round-headed arches with pink granite arches with composite capitals. A central staircase rises in a single flight to a half-landing with two similar columns supporting an entablature beam, and black and white chequered floor tiles, before returning in two outer flights to the first floor. Above the half-landing entablature beam is a horizontal painting painted in 1950s by Harry Rutherford, depicting local buildings and people. It is fixed to the wall and is specifically designed to fit the space, being the exact width of the wall and height between the entablature beam and architrave of the ceiling architrave. Over the staircase is a square, coved, coffered ceiling with large multi-pane roof light with stained glass, and circular ventilator. Circular and round-headed windows to both sides with coloured floral and geometric patterned leaded glass. At head of stairs, on first-floor landing, are two round-headed tympanum with relief borough coat of arms and date 1884. To right is corridor to mayor's parlour and former council chamber (Rutherford Room). Large double door with half-glazing of coloured leaded glass and similar to fanlight. Mayor's parlour has fielded ceiling. The fireplace and half-panelled walls date from 1930s. Former council chamber has a barrel-vaulted and fielded ceiling, with windows including an oriel to both side elevations, with decorative glass. Basement has stone-flagged corridor, single holding cell and former strong room, originally with separate staircase, now truncated. The 1913 Corporation Street entrance and stair hall has green and cream faience tiling to the walls, white glass and brass half-globe hanging lights, coloured and leaded borrowed light over stairs, pair of double doors at head of stairs with half glazing of textured and coloured leaded glass. Large public hall (Hyde Hall) has depressed-arch ribbed ceiling, stage, white glass globe and brass chandeliers, balconies to side and rear, round-headed windows to each side, and sprung floor. Former first-floor magistrates' court has barrel-vaulted ceiling, brass chandeliers, panelling, plasterwork swag and coloured glass swag, dog-leg staircase and narrow public staircase, both with brown faience dado tiling.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Four raised flowerbeds in front of original building with low brick walls with stone coping topped by low iron fencing set between stone piers, with fencing set in stone kerbs in front of basement areas.

HISTORY: Hyde was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1881. Subsequently a town hall was commissioned from James William Beaumont, a prominent Manchester architect, who went on to win a competition for his design of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (q.v.). The foundation stone for Hyde Town Hall was laid on June 30 1883. The clock and bells of the tower were presented by Joshua Bradley, a local man who had risen from child factory worker to councillor. The building was later extended; the foundation stone on Corporation Street is dated Feb 8th 1913. Hyde Town Hall was recently refurbished to provide conference facilities in the principal rooms. The former police station was converted to offices.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
Hyde Town Hall is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a symbolic expression of the town's new civic status awarded upon incorporation as a municipal borough in 1881
* It is a commanding building dominating the centre of the town, originally designed by James William Beaumont, a leading Manchester architect of the late C19 and early C20, and evolving into a larger civic complex with a sympathetic extension of facilities in 1913
* The quality of craftsmanship and detailing to the exterior of the original building
* The decorative treatment of the principal public areas, notably main entrance and stair hall, coloured leaded glass and fielded ceilings in the mayor's parlour, and council chamber, coloured leaded glass in the principal first-floor door and corridors of the original building, faience tiling, coloured and textured leaded glass, plasterwork, and light fittings of the 1913 extension.

Reasons for Listing

Hyde Town Hall is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* As a symbolic expression of the town's new civic status awarded upon incorporation as a municipal borough in 1881
* As a commanding building dominating the centre of the town, originally designed by James William Beaumont, a leading Manchester architect of the late C19 and early C20, and evolving into a larger civic complex with a sympathetic extension of facilities in 1913
* The quality of craftsmanship and detailing to the exterior of the original building
* The decorative treatment of the principal public areas, notably main entrance and stair hall, coloured leaded glass and panelled ceilings in the mayor's parlour, and council chamber, coloured leaded glass in the principal first-floor door and corridors of the original building, faience tiling, coloured and textured leaded glass, plasterwork, and light fittings of the 1913 extension.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Hyde Town Hall at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26672747

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)