Former Dewsbury Union Offices, Dewsbury, Kirklees

Summary

Former headquarter office for Dewsbury Union, 1890s, later in use as a registry office, in Renaissance Revival style.

Description

Former headquarter office for Dewsbury Union, 1890s, later in use a registry office, in late C19 Renaissance Revival style.

MATERIALS: coursed millstone grit with ashlar dressings, and an entire ashlar front elevation. Slate roof coverings.

PLAN: the building is square in plan and consists of a tall two-storey front range with a stair projection on the east side, and a single-storey rear range that wraps around to complete the square. The principal front elevation faces west onto Wellington Street, and the building is bounded by the Wesleyan Centenary Chapel (now Elim Pentecostal Church) to the south, former magistrates' court building (now an events venue) to the east, and a lane to the north connecting Wellington Street with Grove Street.

EXTERIOR: due to the sloping topography of Wellington Street, which slopes downwards from north to south, the southern end of the building is carried upon a plinth. Both front and rear ranges of the building have a dentilled eaves and there are a mixture of pitched and hipped roofs with stone chimneystacks (the stack to the centre of the front range's ridge has been removed). Windows are all casements, some of which are top-opening.

FRONT (WEST) ELEVATION: the front elevation is of five-bays with wider outer bays that are gabled and project forwards slightly with paired windows to the ground floor and large Venetian windows to the first floor. The outer bays' ground-floor windows have rounded upper corners, carved rose reliefs to the aprons, and are separated by engaged antae (square columns) with carved decoration. The first-floor Venetian windows have moulded arches and scrolled keystones, and Corinthian half-columns and antae in place of mullions, which support entablatures that continue across the rest of the elevation. At the foot of each Venetian window is balustrading providing the illusion of a balcony. Running across the top of the front elevation is a deep dentilled eaves cornice with a plain parapet above. On the outer bays the gables rise from the parapet and incorporate statue niches with shell half-domes topped by swan-neck pediments. Set in between the floor levels of the left bay is a painted cast-iron street sign that reads: 'WELLINGTON STREET'. The main entrance is set to the ground floor of the second bay and is accessed by a later stone ramp and flight of steps with painted cast-iron railings. The entrance consists of a projecting gableted porch with a recessed doorway and panelled double doors set behind square, fluted Corinthian columns supporting an entablature with 'DEWSBURY UNION OFFICES' in relief lettering to the frieze. The porch's gablet incorporates a two-light stained-glass panel depicting fleur-de-lys and has a raised arched head containing a carved shell, that echoes the Venetian window styling of the outer bays. The neighbouring ground-floor windows are in the same style as those to the outer bays, but without the pilaster decoration, and to the first floor the windows have moulded round-arched heads and scrolled keystones.

NORTH ELEVATION: the north gable end of the front range has paired windows to the left on each floor (those to the first floor have round-arched heads) and single windows to each floor to the right. At the top of the gable is a tall end ridge stack with stringcourses and a dentilled cornice. Attached to the left of the gable end is the single-storey rear range, which is plainer and of three-bays on this side, with tall windows to the two left bays and a tall entrance doorway to the right bay that provides access to a secondary internal hallway, with panelled double doors, a two-light overlight and a later bracketed hood.

SOUTH ELEVATION: the front range's south gable end has windows to each side on the ground floor and a round-arched window to the first-floor left, and an identical ridge stack to that at the north gable end. Attached to the right is the single-storey rear range, which is also of three-bays on this side and has a window to each bay.

REAR (EAST) ELEVATION: at the rear of the front range is a two-storey projection containing the internal main stair. The projection has tall round-arched windows to the first floor on three sides and tall chimneys to the eastern corners with plain cornices. Attached at ground-floor level is the single-storey rear range, which has square-headed windows to its east elevation in the same style as those to the north and south ends, and an additional doorway towards the southern end.

INTERIOR: internally deep skirtings, plain and decorative moulded cornicing, ceiling roses, six-panel doors, some built-in cupboards, dado and picture rails, ventilators, and moulded door and window architraves survive throughout. The circulation spaces on the ground floor also retain their original patterned mosaic floor, albeit some of it hidden under later coverings. Fireplaces have been lost through theft in the early C21, but chimneybreasts and some tiled hearths survive. Some later partitioning, which is not full height, has been inserted into parts of the ground floor.

The building's main entrance leads into a large vestibule with a wide screen leading through into a hallway and the stair hall beyond. The screen, which has replaced double doors to the centre, incorporates etched-glass panels with Greek-key borders and crowns surrounded by foliate decoration. The vestibule leads through to a wide hallway with a large room off to the north side. The doorway into a similarly large room on the south side has been altered into a large opening with a later panelled counter at the base and a screen to the upper part that operated as an enquiries desk during the building's C20 registry office use. An original doorway in the stair hall provides access into this room, as well as a room in the south-west corner. All three rooms are similarly styled with dado rails, cornicing, ceiling roses and panelled aprons beneath the windows. The room in the south-west corner also contains a door architrave removed from a blocked-up doorway leading out to the stair hall.

The rear range's north-side entrance leads into a similarly styled but narrower hallway with a room off to each side and internal windows into the hallway. A screen at the end of the hallway incorporates etched-glass panels in the same style as those to the main-entrance vestibule.

At the centre of the building the large stair hall contains a wide, open-well stone stair with curtail steps, decorative cast-iron balustrade and cast-iron newel posts, and a timber handrail, that is lit by tall round-arched first-floor windows with scrolled keystones. The stair hall has a coffered ceiling and pilasters supporting the hall's openings. At the southern end of the stair hall is an arched opening accessing a small room (now a kitchenette) set behind a partly-glazed etched-glass screen, which is similarly styled to those near the ground-floor entrances, and on the west wall is a blocked-up doorway that originally led into the south-west room. An original doorway on the east side leads into a large room in the south-east corner of the rear range, which is similarly detailed to those in the front range. Two further rooms in the rear range with some later partitioning have an original small internal window in their dividing wall.

The first-floor landing shares the mosaic flooring of the ground-floor circulation spaces and has a boarded-over doorway in the north wall that accesses toilets with glaze-tiled walls. A later fire-safety partition has been inserted on the west side of the landing and leads through to three doorways with elaborate pedimented doorcases that access the first-floor rooms; that to the south side has a larger doorway with double doors and leads into the main room (probably a committee room originally), which occupies the southern half of the first floor. The room has a decorative ceiling, chimneybreasts at each north and south end, an elaborate architrave incorporating pilasters to its Venetian window, and pedimented doorcases to the internal door faces, including one that leads through into the neighbouring room. The two rooms in the northern half of the first floor are smaller and share the same window treatment as the main room, but with slightly plainer ceilings and plain moulded architraves to the internal door faces.

History

Dewsbury Union Offices was constructed as the headquarter offices of the Dewsbury Union in the 1890s on the site of the old court, police station and lock-ups (police cells), which had moved their function to the new Town Hall when its construction was completed in 1889. The identity of the architect has not been ascertained.

Dewsbury Poor Law Union was formed in 1837 to administer the Poor Law in the eleven parishes of Dewsbury, Batley, Gomersal, Heckmondwike, Liversedge, Lower Whitley, Mirfield, Morley, Ossett, Soothill, Thornhill, and the Union was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians. In addition to the 11 original parishes, Birkenshaw, Birstall, Gawthorpe and Ravensthorpe joined later in the 1890s.

The building later became a registry office and remained in this use until 2012.

Reasons for Listing

The former Dewsbury Union Offices, constructed in the 1890s, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a building with an imposing presence that belies its small scale and a distinguished Renaissance Revival design that reflects the civic status of the Dewsbury union in the late C19;

* it is little altered overall both externally and internally, and the spatial arrangements and civic nature of the building remain clearly legible;

* numerous interior features of note survive, including mosaic floors, moulded architraves and cornicing, etched-glass door screens, and an impressive stair hall and first-floor landing with a coffered ceiling and open-well stair with decorative balustrade.

Group value:

* it has strong group value with neighbouring listed buildings, including 15 Wellington Road, (also known as Field House), the Central Methodist Church (now Elim Pentecostal Church), 22 Wellington Road, and Dewsbury Railway Station at this important gateway into Dewsbury town centre.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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