Former Co-Operative Society Building (Pioneer House), Dewsbury, Kirklees

Summary

Former Co-operative Society building, built in 1878-1880 by Holtom & Connon, and extended in 1896 and 1914 by Holtom & Fox. Italian Renaissance style.

Description

Former Co-operative Society building, built in 1878-1880 by Holtom & Connon, and extended in 1896 and 1914 by Holtom & Fox. Italian Renaissance style with a 1914 Baroque addition.

MATERIALS: sandstone ashlar and sandstone 'bricks', slate roof coverings.

PLAN: Pioneer House occupies the north-east side of a large plot that is roughly semi-circular in shape and originally had rear yard areas and outbuildings on the western side. It has a long rectangular plan with a curved north-west end and is bounded by Halifax Road to the north-east, Dewsbury Ring Road to the north-west, Wellington Road East and the site of former yard areas and outbuildings to the west, and Branch Road to the south-west and south-east. Occupying the south corner of the plot and attached to Pioneer House is 53-57 Branch Road, which is separately listed at Grade II.

EXTERIOR: externally the building has a mixture of plate-glass sash, casement and fixed-pane windows.

FRONT (NORTH-EAST ELEVATION): the front elevation facing Halifax Road is entirely of ashlar sandstone and is of a long 20-bays, the 12-bays of which at the south-eastern end are formed by the original 1878-1880 part of the building. Due to a sloping ground level from north-west to south-east the south-eastern end of the building appears taller. The 1878-1880 section of the building is mainly of three-storeys with a bracketed eaves cornice, a hipped roof that is hidden from view, a clock tower at the south-eastern end and a further smaller tower at the north-western end. The eight centre bays have four large shop windows to the ground floor all separated by rusticated pilasters and single windows to the two upper floors; those to the first floor have scrolled, segmental and triangular pediments, some with pilasters and carved-head keystones, whilst those to the second floor are taller and round-headed with elaborate keystones and segmental and triangular pediments. Similarly styled shop windows exist to the ground floor of the flanking bays, which are topped by broken pediments surmounted by urns and have giant paired, rusticated pilasters with swagged capitals incorporating grotesque heads. To the first floor of the flanking bays are slightly canted triple-light windows with elaborate pedimented surrounds incorporating carved-head keystones and guilloche-carved aprons below, and to the second floor are pedimented Venetian windows topped by elaborately styled cartouches depicting the beehive motif of the co-operative movement. The two outermost bays are both designed as towers although that to the far right (north-west) end, which was a principal entrance originally, only has a balustraded parapet and a French-style pyramidal roof with cast-iron cresting set above the main roofline. The bay has a later inserted shop window to the ground floor (replacing an entrance) and at first-floor level are three oculi (round windows) with scrolled keystones and a continuous hoodmould. Above is a large columnar Venetian window with a raised carved head. At the south-east end of the elevation is the main entrance, which is set within a 4-stage clock tower with clasping rusticated pilasters and a tall plinth with vermiculate-rusticated panels and inscribed foundation stone, and a top stage that rises above the rest of the building. The entrance consists of a tall round-arched doorway with replaced doors and fanlight set within a highly elaborate surround incorporating fluted pilasters, festoons, roundels containing carved busts, an enlarged keystone and a raised head with a segmental-pedimented panel springing out of a broken pediment up into the tower's second stage. The third stage has a tall columnar Venetian window with a raised carved head. Above is the fourth and top stage, which has blind arcading surmounted by blind balustrading and classically-styled clasping buttresses surmounted by urns. Above, the large clock faces to each face have elaborate surrounds incorporating paired pilasters supporting a dentilled entablature and scrolled pediment. The whole is surmounted by an octagonal leaded, domed roof incorporating round-arched, louvred belfry dormers with eared architraves and topped by a small lantern with a wrought-iron finial.

Attached to the north-west end of the 1878-1880 build is a four-bay 1896 extension, which is of a slightly lower three-storeys. It is similarly styled to the earlier build with a bracketed eaves cornice and a pitched roof hidden from view. Full-height pilasters exist to the left bay and the right end and a dentilled cornice exists above the ground and first floors. There is an inscribed foundation stone and a further stone inscribed with the names of the committee members and architects. Originally there was an open thoroughfare at the ground-floor level of the left bay, but map evidence reveals that this was fully subsumed into the main building in the early C20, probably when the final extension was constructed in 1914. The three-bays to the right have a fully-glazed shopfront with a central entrance and to the first floor is original glazed curtain walling with slender decorative cast-iron mullions and transoms. To the second floor are windows with alternate segmental and triangular pediments with carved tympanums.

Attached to the north-west end of the 1896 extension is a further extension added in 1914, which is Baroque in style and is of two storeys with a flat roof that houses a pitched-roofed attic level on its south-western half. An undated historic photograph reveals that originally the attic had a full-length roof lantern, but this has since been removed and one of the north-east facing windows has also been blocked up. The extension has four-bays fronting onto Halifax Road and then a further four-bays that curve around the north-west corner. The ground floor is composed of two shopfronts on Halifax Road; that to the left is a later insertion and was originally two smaller bays separated by a pilaster, and that to the right is original but has a later inserted doorway on the left side. A further original shopfront and two large arched, keyed openings with later glazing exist to the north-west corner, all separated by pilasters incorporating carved panels, one of which incorporates an inscribed foundation stone. The original shopfronts have slender carved and decorative glazing bars and mirrored panels, and retain their original signage fascias with gilded lettering that reads 'CONFECTIONARY' and 'PAINTING & DECORATING'. The curved north-western shopfront also retains its original entrance door, which is similarly styled to the shopfronts, and a richly carved panel above with relief lettering that reads 'PAINTING &/ DECORATING'. Both original shopfronts also have entrance porches with tesserae floors; that facing Halifax Road is plain, whilst that to the north-west corner has a mosaic pattern displaying the initials of the Dewsbury Pioneers Industrial Society Ltd. The first floor is formed of a series of canted oriel windows with stained-glass upper lights and carved aprons. The windows are separated by Corinthian half-columns supporting an entablature and parapet with carved and pierced panels. The left (south-eastern) oriel is different and consists of a doorway with a balcony in front, with columns supporting an entablature and balustraded parapet above, behind which is a scrolled pediment flanked by octagonal piers.

SOUTH-EAST ELEVATION: the three-bay left (south-east) return facing Branch Road consists of the side return of the entrance clock tower, which has banded rustication to the first stage, three oculi (in the same style as those to the front elevation) to the second stage, a Venetian window to the third stage like that to the front of the tower, and the fourth stage is as previously described. The two bays to the left have an additional attic stage on this side and continue the bracketed eaves cornice and use of rusticated pilasters of the front elevation. The bays are divided by rusticated pilasters and the left bay, which has a tall round-arched doorway to the ground floor with panelled double doors, a multipaned fanlight and a keystone surmounted by upright scallop shell, is canted so that it faces south. The centre bay has another smaller doorway (accessing a service stair) with an adjacent blind window styled as arcading with carved foliate roundels (that above the doorway incorporates a fleuree cross) and keystones surmounted by upright scallop shells. The windows, which are paired to the centre bay, are simpler than those to the front elevation with scrolled pediments to the first floor and cornices above the second-floor windows. The attic has three small sash windows to each of the two left bays separated by pilasters. Attached to the left is 53-57 Branch Road, which is separately listed at Grade II.

REAR (SOUTH-WEST) ELEVATION: the rear elevation is plainer and is constructed of sandstone 'bricks' with ashlar dressings, including sills, lintels and dentilled eaves cornice. The entire elevation is of three-storeys (the 1878-1880 build is taller in height) due to the presence of the 1914 extension's attic level at the north-western end. The 1878-1880 build has a series of large openings (some now blocked up) to the ground floor, segmental-headed windows to the first floor, and tall round-headed windows with keyed lintels to the second floor, along with two Venetian windows. A sill band exists below both the first and second-floor windows. An original elevated cast-iron pedestrian walkway that connected the second-floor concert hall across to higher ground on Wellington Road East was removed in the early C21, but the former doorway survives. The 1896 extension has openings of varying size to the ground and first floors (some of those to the ground floor are now blocked up), and casement windows to the second floor. To the far-left bay are former stair windows (the internal stair they originally lit has been removed) with plain and stained-glass margin lights. The 1914 extension at the left (north-west) end of the elevation has tall cross windows to the ground floor and first floor with stained glass to the upper lights (two of those to the ground floor have been designed by local students and installed in 2019 to replace damaged originals), and two basket-arched windows to the attic level. A plainer bay to the right rises above the roofline and contains a stair internally. It is top-lit by a modern roof lantern, with two windows lighting the top landing, an altered stair window below and a later inserted doorway to the ground floor.

INTERIOR: at the time of writing (2019) there are on-going renovation and conversion works: plaster has been removed and walls taken back to bare brick, and cornicing has been taken down ready for later reinstatement and repair. Modern steel sub-structures have been inserted to most areas. Some original floorings survive, including floorboard and terrazzo, but others have been replaced.

The main entrance in the 1878-1880 build leads to a wide open-well stair leading up to the first floor and the second-floor concert hall. The stair has a carved timber handrail and a decorative relief-patterned green, gold and pink encaustic-tile dado (the tilework in the building is said to be by Minton), but has lost its balustrade. Paired arches exist to the first and second-floor landings, and off the first landing is a six-panel door into a toilet with an internal window overlooking the side service stair that accesses a top-floor projection room. The ground floor of the 1878-1880 build is composed of a series of large interconnected spaces; that to the south-east end is two-bays in width and has original cast-iron columns with decorative embossed detailing, whilst the rest are single-bay in width. Open doorways are arranged in line with each other like an enfilade. More simply detailed cast-iron columns exist to a space at the north-west end of the 1878-1880 build, which also has partly tiled walls with a raised border depicting daffodils, and an original timber-clad ceiling. An early-C21 steel stair has been inserted at the south-east end of the ground floor and leads down to a series of inter-connected basement rooms, which have modern tanked linings and services. An original stone basement stair exists at the north-west end and above is a stone open-well stair, which leads up to the first floor and the second-floor concert hall, and was also originally a principal entrance off Halifax Road. It has a tesserae floor, carved timber handrails, cast-iron splat balusters, and a decorative encaustic-tile dado in the same style as that to the main entrance. The uppermost flight rising into the concert hall has been removed and replaced by a timber flight aligned at a 90-degree angle. The first floor of the 1878-1880 build has some knocked-through walls and blocked-up openings, and a central corridor at the north-west end that becomes a series of enfilade doorways as you progress south-eastwards. Window architraves and panelled reveals survive, along with cast-iron columns to the north-western section in the same style as those to the ground floor. What is believed to have been a boardroom at the south-east end of the first floor on the north-east side has a replica plaster ceiling replacing the damaged original. The second floor consists of a single massive space originally used as a concert/public hall and later converted for theatre and cinema use. A later stage, proscenium arch and balcony have all now been removed, and a large steel sub-structure with a mezzanine level has been inserted. The original queen-post roof structure survives with metal ties instead of tie beams. A narrow stone stair set behind the tower and accessed off Branch Road has decorative cast-iron balusters and a carved timber handrail and provides access up to a projection room and the former balcony entrance, as well as to the uppermost levels of the tower via ladders. The tower's clock room retains the original clock workings, although there is now a modern electric mechanism. A modern metal ladder leads up into the belfry, which contains four bells: originally there were five bells, but one has been removed.

The 1896 extension consists of a large open space to the ground floor with part-fluted cast-iron columns with Corinthian capitals and additional modern steel supports. The formerly open passageway through the building has a black and white patterned tiled floor (damaged and missing in places) and the original decorative stonework of the 1878-1880 build's return is visible. The stonework has been altered (probably in around 1914 when the passageway was closed) to create a new opening. The first floor is similarly styled to the ground floor and was probably originally a showroom. At the rear are stair windows for a now-removed rear stair and the original exterior wall of the 1878-1880 build is exposed, including original openings.

In the 1914 extension walls have been knocked through to amalgamate the former ground-floor shop spaces, and the upper floors have replaced steel decking floors. On the ground floor decorative relief-patterned, full-height green and cream encaustic tilework exists to the south-east party wall with a modern inserted doorway through to the 1896 build. The tilework continues into a rear stairwell (with modern partitioning, which is also replicated on the first-floor landing) and continues up to attic level. The stairwell contains a cantilevered stone dog-leg stair (the bottom flight of which has been removed and replaced by a narrower, temporary modern timber flight) with a cast-iron balustrade, carved timber handrail, and blocked-up doorways on the half-landing levels. The rear ground-floor space, which has stained-glass windows to the rear wall, would appear to have had decorative tilework to all four walls. Much survives, but some has since been removed, including where an original south-east section of walling has been removed to create a later opening. The first-floor space is completely open and has a panelled dado with decorative brown and cream encaustic tiling above, and columns with panelled faces, some of which are mirrored. Original panelled screens/dividers with stained glass have been mainly dismantled and stored ready for re-use. The attic space is believed to have originally been a changing room and toilets for staff and has glazed-tiled walls and a corbelled queen-post truss roof. The original roof lantern has been removed and rafters and boarding partly replaced.

History

Pioneer House was constructed as the headquarters and central stores of the Dewsbury Pioneers Industrial Society Ltd, a co-operative society that was founded in 1857. It was built in three phases, the first part of which was designed by Holtom & Connon of Dewsbury and Leeds in 1878-1880, with two subsequent extensions designed by Holtom & Fox.

The first part of the building at the south-east end was constructed in 1878-1880, with the foundation stone laid by the president, Thomas Norcliffe in November 1878 (the foundation stone is heavily weathered and the exact date is illegible). Store departments were located on the ground floor, a library, conversations rooms and offices were on the first floor, and a concert hall was on the second floor. The society gave 1.25% of its net profits to education and by 1893 they had established two libraries and ten reading rooms in the local area.

The building was extended north-westwards by the addition of a three-storey extension in 1896, and again by a two-storey extension in 1914. The foundation stones of the extensions were both laid by the society's presidents at the time: George Thorpe on 19 September 1896, and T H Thompson Esq on 2 May 1914.

After the building's original use ceased it had a variety of other uses and tenants, including a restaurant, theatre, cinema, and snooker hall. At the time of writing (2019) it is in the process of being converted for use by Kirklees College as their Dewsbury centre.

Henry Holtom (d 1901) was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and moved to Dewsbury when he was in his early 20s, later becoming a local councillor and then Mayor of Dewsbury in 1883. Holtom first formed an architectural partnership with William Bulmer in 1865, but this partnership was dissolved in 1870 and Holtom was joined by John Wreghitt Connon (1849-1921) until Connon's retirement in 1883. Holtom subsequently formed a partnership with George Arthur Fox (b 1854) who also went on to become Mayor of Dewsbury in 1895-1896 and ran the firm from 1890 after Holtom left. The partnerships of Holtom & Connon and Holtom & Fox both designed many buildings in and around Dewsbury, including the town hall, which was designed by Holtom & Fox.

Reasons for Listing

The former Co-operative Society Building (Pioneer House), constructed in 1878-1880 and extended in 1896 and 1914, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a striking and imposing landmark building with a scale similar to that of civic and municipal buildings;

* the Italian Renaissance and Baroque-influenced exterior incorporates a strong level of architectural detailing and embellishment, and is little altered;

* it was designed by the notable local firms of Holtom & Connon and Holtom & Fox who have a number of listed buildings to their name;

* the two later extensions enhance the building's architectural interest and incorporate increasingly rare original display windows, including first-floor glazed curtain walling to the 1896 extension, and elegant curving shopfronts and gilded signage fascias to the 1914 extension;

* despite later alteration the interior retains many original features including Minton tilework, stone stairs, stained glass, ornate structural columns, panelled screens, and the original clock workings and bells in the tower.

Historic interest:

* it is a good example of a Co-operative building and its vast scale, later additions and the architectural elaboration of the principal elevations reflects the status, prominence and continued success of the Dewsbury Pioneers Industrial Society Ltd within Dewsbury in the late C19 and early C20.

External Links

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