30th July 2013
Leeds Town Hall was designed by Yorkshire architect Cuthbert Brodrick (1822-1905). Brodrick trained with HF Lockwood and also in Paris, and began his practice in Hull. There was an open competition for the design of Leeds Town Hall in 1853 which Brodrick won with his exuberant bold design for a “municipal palace” in the classical / baroque manner. The Town Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1858..
The building is constructed out of millstone grit with a slate roof. It has a heavily rusticated base which supports ten colossal Corinthian columns with fluted pilasters. Above there is an entablature capped by a balustrade with urns which runs all around the building. The main entrance is reached by a wide flight of stone steps flanked by 2 plinths with the famous stone lions carved out of Portland stone by William Day Keyworth (1817-1897). Above the other main door is a sculptured group with figures representing Progress, Art and Commerce. Soaring above the whole structure is a clock tower.
Posted in News by Laura