W I Palmer Memorial Hall, Abbey, Reading

Summary

A former temperance hall (part of a terrace), of 1862 by William Henry Woodman, embellished and rebuilt between 1887 and 1899 by F W Albury.

Description

A former temperance hall (part of a terrace), of 1862 by William Henry Woodman, embellished and rebuilt between 1887 and 1899 by F W Albury.

MATERIALS: brown brick in English bond with decorative terracotta detailing.

PLAN: shop to the ground floor with entrance to the left. Subsidiary entrance to the right.

EXTERIOR: the asymmetric principal elevation is richly decorated with buff and red terracotta. It is three-storey and of three bays, with the central bay recessed above the ground floor. To the ground floor, the left-hand bay comprises a portico with a Romanesque-type doorway of two orders and alternating buff and red terracotta tile dressings, supported by pairs of engaged columns with composite capitals, decorated with faces. Above, there is an entablature comprising a frieze and moulded cornice topped by a pediment, the tympanum of which is richly decorated with an arcade of small arches in relief, above a triangle of foliage. The frieze is inscribed ‘AD WEST STREET HALL 1887’. The entablature is supported by two composite columns on pedestals of engineering bricks. The shafts have faces in relief to the lower part, fluting to the middle and a hexagonal pattern to the upper part, under a composite capital. The doorway has a pair of decorative wrought-iron gates, behind which there is a modern, metal and glass entrance door and vestibule. The central bay is fronted by a plate glass shop front with a fluted stall riser and plain fascia. The right-hand bay has a C20 entrance. The architrave is faced in grey marble, which carries a coat of arms surmounted by a later sign 'LONDON COLLEGE OF RESEARCH'. The recessed entrance door is uPVC.

From the left, the two upper floors have canted bay windows with multiple, single-light windows set into fluted mullions and moulded transoms. The frieze above the first-floor windows and the parapet above the second, have three decorative panels with a cartouche and scrolls under round-headed arches of alternating buff and red terracotta tile dressings. The roof above has a short spire, topped with a metal weathervane. The central bay has eight-light, transom windows with fluted mullions and moulded transoms to both floors. The frieze above the first-floor window has stylised letters on slanting scrolls, spelling out 'W I Palmer Memorial Building'. The parapet above the second floor has a pair of bracket-shaped mouldings, set between fluted pilasters. The right-hand bay projects at the first and second floors, where there are four-light transom windows with fluted mullions and moulded transoms. The frieze and parapet have a decorative panel with a cartouche and scrolls under a round-headed arch of alternating buff and red terracotta tile dressings. The clay-tiled roof is partially hidden behind the parapet. The top of the north side elevation steps up to a large, brick chimney stack with a buff terracotta frieze.

INTERIOR: the ground floor shop spaces appear to have modern fixtures and fittings, as does the hallway beyond the main entrance vestibule. The upper floors have been converted to apartments.

History

The first written record of Reading dates from the C9 when the name seems to have referred to a tribe, called Reada’s people. The town lies at the junction of the rivers Thames and Kennet and it is possible that there was a river port here during the Roman occupation. The town was recorded as a royal village by 870 and by 1086 there was a thriving urban community, as recorded in the Domesday Book. Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 and this transformed Reading into a place of pilgrimage as well as an important trading and ecclesiastical centre with one of the biggest and richest monasteries in England. By 1525 Reading was the largest town in Berkshire and the tenth-largest in England when measured in taxable wealth, largely due to the wool and cloth trades.

The dissolution led to the monastic complex becoming a royal palace and by 1611 the town’s population had grown to over 5,000. A number of the timber-framed houses from this period survive in Castle Street and Market Place. The civil war caused the building of earthwork defences surrounding the town and it was besieged.

During the C18 Reading became a prosperous market town and administrative centre, due to the development of the town’s waterways and road links. In 1723 the River Kennet was transformed into a canal, linking Reading to Newbury, further extended by the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810, to create a route between Reading and the Bristol Channel. Turnpike roads were also improved, establishing major coaching routes from London to Oxford, the West Country and the southern coast. Iron works, brewing and malting caused the expansion of the town further west and in the historic centre of Reading, many older, timber-framed buildings were refaced in fashionable brick. A new town hall was built just northeast of the west end of Friar Street in 1786.

In the C19, the town expanded further; three separate railway companies ran routes through the town to London, causing a rapid increase in population (9,400 in 1801 to 21,500 in 1851 and over 70,000 by 1900) as well as the development of Reading’s famous Three B’s industries: beer (H&G Simonds Brewery, later Courage, 1785-2010), bulbs (Suttons Seeds, 1806-1976) and biscuits (Huntley and Palmers, 1822-1976), although all three have now moved from Reading centre. Growth during this period was characterised by the proliferation of brick terraces, and Hardy referred to Reading as ‘Aldbrickham’ in his novel Jude the Obscure. The excellent local clay had been used for tile making from medieval times and then bricks after the C18. In 1869 the town was confirmed as the county town for Berkshire and the extent of the borough was increased to the south in 1887 and again in 1911 to the north and west.

The University was founded as an extension college of the University of Oxford and received its charter in 1926. The town centre was considerably changed between 1969 and the 1980s with the development of the Inner Distribution Road and also the opening of the M4 in 1971. In 2022, Reading is one of the largest urban areas in the UK without city status. Information technology and the service economy now dominate commercial activity and the newly built development of the town.

The temperance movement campaigned against the recreational use and sale of alcohol and promoted total abstinence. In the C19, high levels of alcohol consumption and drunkenness were seen by social reformers as a danger to society's wellbeing, leading to social issues such as poverty, child neglect, immorality and economic decline. The Reading Temperance Society was founded in 1832 as a local branch of the British and Foreign Temperance Society. In 1862 the West Street Rooms were built in the garden of a Working Men’s Clubhouse. The architect was William Henry Woodman who gave his services for free. He was the Reading Borough surveyor and other examples of his work include the Vachel Almshouses on Castle Street of 1863/1865, Listed Grade II (NHLE entry 1154678). He was also in partnership with William Ford Poulton as Poulton & Woodman.

The hall was renamed 'W I Palmer Memorial Buildings' and embellished between 1887 and 1899, with this work attributed to F W Albury. The terracotta work of the 1887 entrance was by Messrs Doulton & Co and the wrought iron gates from J H Barford of the art metal works Maidenhead. The Goad Insurance map of 1901 shows the society lodge to the west road front and a hall behind (now largely demolished and replaced with a modern building).

F W Albury (1845-1912) was born in Reading and attended Reading School of Art before working at the architectural firm of William and John Thomas Brown in the town. He was an assistant to the prolific architect James Fowler of Louth in 1875-1876 before returning to Reading to join his old firm, Albury and Brown. He was elected Fellow of the RIBA in 1875 (proposed by Alfred Waterhouse and others) and designed many buildings in the Reading area, a number of which are listed; Caversham Free Public Library (NHLE entry 1113456) and West Branch Library, Oxford Road (NHLE entry 1302878) both Grade II and completed in 1907.

William Isaac Palmer was treasurer and president of the Reading Temperance Society from the 1850s until his death in 1893. The Palmer family were Quakers, philanthropists and benefactors to Reading, including the funding of the town hall, library and Palmer Park. W I Palmer lived at Hillside on Allcroft Road (NHLE entry 1392866, listed at Grade II) which he commissioned from architects Morris & Stallwood in 1879. There is a memorial to W I Palmer on the Valpy Street/Blagrave Street corner of the Reading Town Hall and Museum building; ‘He was a very munificent contributor for the erection of the adjacent Town Hall and Free Library and Museum Buildings and to whom the Borough is also largely indebted for this addition to those buildings.’

During the First World War, the hall was used as a temperance club for soldiers. By the 1950s the work of the society became more focused on education about the dangers of alcohol, with much youth work undertaken between 1956 and the 1970s. The Society sold non-alcoholic drinks nationwide (as Amethyst Drinks) and operated the Amethyst Tea Bar in West Street, Reading. It also supplied tea at Borough Council meetings as an alternative to alcohol. The coat of arms above the secondary entrance is associated with the Temperance Building Society, which opened a branch in the building in 1964.

In 1974 Palmer Hall was sold and new premises, called Amethyst House, were bought in London Road, Reading. The name of the Society was gradually changed to that of the Amethyst Centre for Alcohol Concern. The first and second floors of the hall were converted to flats around 2015.

Reasons for Listing

The W I Palmer Hall, a former temperance hall (part of a terrace), of 1862 by William Henry Woodman, embellished and rebuilt between 1887 and 1899 by F W Albury, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* an eye-catching and flamboyant design using good quality terracotta detailing and ironwork, which evokes the design of contemporary pubs and banks;
* for the signage announcing the commemoration of W I Palmer, a Reading philanthropist and promoter of temperance.

Historic interest:

* as the purpose-built meeting place for the Reading branch of the British and Foreign Temperance Society, which promoted sober refreshment and recreation as an alternative to the public house.

Group value:

* as part of the streetscape including the adjacent, early-C19 Mitre Inn, (NHLE entry 1157216, listed at Grade II) and the Grade I, Greyfriars Church (NHLE entry 1321952).

External Links

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British Listed Buildings

History in Structure

W I Palmer Memorial Hall

A Grade II Listed Building in Abbey, Reading

Coordinates

Summary

Description

History

Reasons for Listing

External Links

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