Cuthbert Brodrick FRIBA (1 December 1821 – 2 March 1905) was a British

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, whose most famous building is

Leeds Town Hall Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow (formerly Park Lane), Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built be ...

Early life

Brodrick was born in the Yorkshire port of

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

where his father was a well-to-do merchant and shipowner. He was the sixth son of ten children of John and Hannah Brodrick. The family lived at 39 George Street in the best residential area of Hull.

Education and training

Brodrick attended Kingston College in Hull and, on leaving school, he became an articled pupil in the architectural practice of

Henry Francis Lockwood Henry Francis Lockwood (18 September 1811, Doncaster – 21 July 1878, Richmond, Surrey) was an influential English architect active in the North of England. Family Lockwood was from a successful Doncaster family. His grandfather, Joseph Lockw ...

whose premises were at 8 Dock Street. Brodrick remained at Lockwoods from 1837 until May 1844 when he embarked on the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...

to continue his studies. He travelled through France to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in Italy. Whilst on the tour, he studied architecture in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

; it influenced his later designs. When Brodrick returned to Hull in 1846, he was offered a partnership in Lockwood's firm. He refused this, and set up in practice on his own at 1, Savile Street in Hull. He designed a number of local buildings in Hull including the Hull Royal Institution building and the Guildhall in Hull.

Leeds

In 1852, aged 29, Brodrick entered and won a competition for the design of

. The competition was judged by

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respon ...

. The town hall was opened in September 1858 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

. Brodrick moved to an office at 30 Park Row, Leeds and acquired the nickname 'Town Hall, Leeds'. His only church was

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Congregational Church on Headingley Lane.

Notable buildings

Leeds

, 1858 * Leeds Corn Exchange, 1860 * The Mechanics' Institute, 1860 (later Civic Theatre and now

Leeds City Museum Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, reopened in 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Cookridge Street (now Millennium Square). It is one of nine ...

) * The Oriental Baths in Cookridge Street, 1866 (demolished) * King Street Warehouses, 1862 (demolished) * Headingley Hill Congregational Church, 1864 (As of 2021 the building was out of use, with unused planning permission for flats) * Moorland Terrace, 1859 (demolished) * 9 Alma Road, 1859 * 49–51 Cookridge Street, 1864 File:Leeds Rathaus.jpg, Leeds Town Hall File:Leeds Corn Exchange.jpg, Leeds Corn Exchange File:Leeds City Museum (11th July 2012) 003.JPG, Leeds City Mechanics' Institute, now

File:Brodrick Building Leeds.JPG, The Brodrick Building, Cookridge St, Leeds File:Brodrick Plaques Leeds.jpg, Plaques on the Brodrick Building

Elsewhere

Brodrick designed the Grand Hotel in Scarborough. Completed in 1867, it was one of the largest hotels in the world. Yokefleet Hall - geograph

Brodrick designed Yokefleet Hall, Yorkshire which commenced building in 1868. Many properties in

Yokefleet Yokefleet (also known as Yorkfleet) is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Blacktoft and a very small part of the civil parish of Laxton. It is situated on the north bank of the River Ou ...

were built around the time and in style of the house, including two lodges, east and west of the hall. Brodrick designed Wells House which opened in 1856 as a Hydro, offering water treatments and pure air.

Personal life

In 1870, Brodrick moved to France where in 1876 he bought a house at Le Vésinet, St. Germain-en-Laye. He retired in 1875, and spent his time painting, exhibiting his work and gardening. In about 1898 he went to live with his niece in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

, where he rented a house, La Colline, at Gorey. Whilst living there he designed, and planted a garden. He died in Jersey on 2 March 1905, and is buried in St Martin's Churchyard.

Legacy

Among Brodrick's pupils was Joseph Wright. A

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon plc (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a pub company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based in Watford. It ...

public house, the 'Cuthbert Brodrick', opened on 22 October 2007 on

Millennium Square Millennium Square may refer to: * Millennium Square, Bristol *Millennium Square, Leeds *Millennium Square, Sheffield Millennium Square is a modern city square in Sheffield, England. It was created as part of the Heart of the City project that b ...

in Leeds opposite one of the buildings he designed (the Leeds City Museum) and not far from another (Leeds Town Hall). It is near the site on Cookridge Street of the Oriental Baths which he also designed; they were built in 1866 and demolished in 1969. Brodrick was the subject of a 2007

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

television programme, ''The Case of the Disappearing Architect'', by

Jonathan Meades Jonathan Turner Meades (born 21 January 1947) is an English writer and film-maker, primarily on the subjects of place, culture, architecture and food. His work spans journalism, fiction, essays, memoir and over fifty highly idiosyncratic tele ...

. Cuthbert Brodrick is commemorated on four blue plaques, on Leeds Town Hall, Brodrick's Building, Wells House and Leeds Corn Exchange.

Early life

Education and training

Leeds

Notable buildings

Leeds

Elsewhere

Personal life

Legacy

References

Further reading