County Hall, Wakefield
Encyclopedia
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Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is the main headquarters of Wakefield City Council
City of Wakefield
The City of Wakefield is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. Wakefield is the district's administrative centre. The district includes the "Five Towns" of Normanton, Pontefract, Featherstone, Castleford and Knottingley. Other...
.
County Hall was built in 1898 to be the headquarters of West Riding County Council and served as such from 1898 until the County Council was abolished in 1974.
In 1974 County Hall was inherited by the new West Yorkshire County Council
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, serving as its headquarters until that County Council was in turn abolished in 1986. The City of Wakefield Metropolitan Borough Council acquired the building in December 1987.
Origins
The County Council of the West Riding of Yorkshire was created by the Local Government Act 1888Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
. Its jurisdiction was over a new administrative county covering the West Riding of Yorkshire
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...
excluding a number of county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
s. Its first meeting was held in February 1889 in Wakefield Town Hall, at the invitation of the Borough Council. For a permanent home the choice was between Leeds and Wakefield; much debate and correspondence resulted, in 1892, in the choice of Wakefield.
The site chosen for the new County Hall was that of Rishworth House on Bond Street, a gentleman's house of 1812 bought by the West Riding Quarter Sessions
Quarter Sessions
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...
in 1878. The County Council had received Rishworth House at its creation and used it for committee rooms, offices and a residence for the Deputy Clerk.
In commissioning a new home, the County Council held an open architectural competition, instructing competitors to prefer "the style of architecture will be left to the competitors but the Queen Anne or Renaissance School of Architecture appears suited to an old town like Wakefield". The winning design was by James S Gibson
James Glen Sivewright Gibson
James Glen Sivewright Gibson was an architect active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.-Life and career:...
, who proposed a Gothic design. Apart from minor modifications, such as the installation of electrical lighting his plan was effected. Later a tower was added to the plan.
The contract for the building of the hall, with Messrs. Armitage and Hodgson of Leeds contained a fair wages clause and a ban on subcontracting to employees in sweated trades.
County Hall was built in the four years from 1894 and opened by the Marquess of Ripon
George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon
George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon KG, GCSI, CIE, PC , known as Viscount Goderich from 1833 to 1859 and as the Earl de Grey and Ripon from 1859 to 1871, was a British politician who served in every Liberal cabinet from 1861 until his death forty-eight years later.-Background...
on 22 February 1898.
New wings were added to the original building between 1912 and 1915 by George Crook of Wakefield, but seamlessly matching Gibson's original design.
The Site
The site chosen for County Hall was a constricted one; the rhombus formed by Bond Street, Cliff Parade, Burton Street and Bell Street. Maximum use of the site meant that the building immediately fronts the streets, with no room for a grand portico entrance. Instead, Gibson placed the main entrance at the obtuse-angled corner of Bond Street with Cliff Parade.The Council Chamber was placed on an upper storey and in the centre of the building, so as to minimize noise from the street.
Decoration
The interior decoration is largely by Henry Charles FehrHenry Charles Fehr
Henry Charles Fehr FRBS was a British monumental and architectural sculptor active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries....
. It is a library of symbolism, for which Fehr was justly famous.
On the main staircase for example an Owl and the Scales represent Meditation and Justice, against which recline two winged figures of Debate and Dictation. The Seal of the West Riding County Council hangs each side. A second panel contains implements representing the main industries of the West Riding, surrounding the White Rose of York, all entwined by a serpent symbolising Wisdom, crowned with a spray of oak for Independence, while beneath the honesty plant and flax are interwoven for Honesty and Industry.
Two further panels show Peace (a winged figure resting on an olive tree with ingrafted roses and sheltering a wren, doves in the tree and broken swords below) and Plenty (a winged figure seated on a golden throne with arms outstretched over divers fruit and grain).
Elsewhere are figures of Art and Science, the Book of History, Inspiration and the Lamp of Knowledge, with globes representing the Domains of Art and Science beneath their feet.
Elsewhere the white Yorkshire rose and British Lion predominate.
In 1913 a delegation from a joint committee of Middlesex County Council
Middlesex County Council
Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965.The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the county to constitute the County of London...
and the Middlesex Quarter Sessions
Quarter Sessions
The Courts of Quarter Sessions or Quarter Sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the United Kingdom and other countries in the former British Empire...
visited Wakefield and forthwith commissioned a copy of the Council Chamber for their own new Middlesex Guildhall
Middlesex Guildhall
The Middlesex Guildhall is the home of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It stands on the south-west corner of Parliament Square in London.-History:...
.
