Tower of Halifax Town Hall a classic Victorian Building in Halifax Yorkshire


Halifax Town Hall is a grade II listed, 19th century town hall in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is notable for its design and interiors by Charles Barry and his son, Edward Middleton Barry, and for its sculptures by John Mayor and corporation first proposed that they build a new town hall in 1847. They suggested it again in 1853 after the town had become a borough five years earlier but they still had no central offices. They proposed it again in 1856. The later proposals were prompted by the 1853 Improvement Act, which allowed the borough to borrow £15,000 to build a town hall, courthouse, and police station. The 1856 proposal was also prompted by John Crossley, who was at that time developing Princess Street and Crossley Street, using the architects Lockwood and Mawson who later designed Bradford City Hall. This may explain why the Town Hall blends in with several Crossley Street buildings, which are now listed as a Council, Edward Akroyd and John Crossley requested that Charles Barry judge the design entries; he disliked all three entries and was asked in turn to submit his own design. His design was accepted, but he died in 1860. His son, Edward Middleton Barry, completed the design which was erected on a 148 x 90 ft plot on John Crossley's land. The foundation stone was laid in Brothers were the building is detached and built of sandstone in the classical style, with a tower and steeple at the corner. There is a rusticated basement and two storeys above with arcades, columns and arches. Around the top of the walls there is a balustrade with finials. There is a metal roof with skylights. The steeple is 180 feet high, metal-covered and decorated by John Thomas with statues representing the four continents. The entrance has a porch with an arch and balustrade with ball finials. The other entrances on the west side have old iron lamp standards and new lanterns, and one has and one has an iron balustrade.


Size: 2592px × 3872px
Location: Crossley Street Halifax West Yorkshire England
Photo credit: © Bernard Rabone / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1863, achievement, africa, akroyd, america, architect, architectural, architecture, arms, asia, barry, building, carved, carvings, century, charles, city, civic, classical, clock, coat, craftmanship, crossley, detail, edward, europe, halifax, hall, heritage, houses, john, kingdom, listed, mottoes, nineteenth, parliament, preserved, pride, sandstone, spire, steeple, stonemasonry, style, tower, town, united, victorian, weathercock, weathervane, yorks, yorkshire