The Guildhall is a building on Alfred Gelder Street in the City of

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-ea ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

, England. The building is currently the headquarters of Hull City Council but is also used as a venue for conferences, civic receptions and formal dinners. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

status.

History

A guildhall, which was located at the southern end of Market Place, was first mentioned when it hosted business between the Mayor and

Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members the ...

in 1333. A second guildhall, at a height of two-storeys was built to the north of the first building during the 1630s. This guildhall was demolished to make way for Queen Street in 1805. The mayor then worked from a domestic property in Lower Street, which was first leased and then acquired, until a third guildhall was built to the designs of Cuthbert Brodrick in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought a ...

on Alfred Gelder Street between 1862 and 1866. The current guildhall, which was designed by Sir Edwin Cooper to accommodate the civic offices and law courts, was built by Quibell, Son & Green of Hull between 1906 and 1914. The eastern end of the current guildhall lies on the site of Brodrick's guildhall. The main frontage on Alfred Gelder Street was built with a central feature flanked by two long

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

s with

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

s at either end. Large sculptures by

Albert Hodge Albert Hemstock Hodge (17 July 1875 – 31 December 1917 or 27 January 1918McKay, James, ''The Dictionary of Sculptors in Bronze'', Antique Collectors Club, London, 1995) was a Scottish born sculptor. Hodge was born at Port Ellen, on the island ...

, one of a female figure on a boat drawn by

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

s and the other of a figure in a chariot flanked by lions, were placed on each of the pavilions. A clock built by Cooke and Johnson was transferred from Brodrick's guildhall to the new building. A

time ball A time ball or timeball is a time-signalling device. It consists of a large, painted wooden or metal ball that is dropped at a predetermined time, principally to enable navigators aboard ships offshore to verify the setting of their marine chron ...

, a mechanism which enables navigators aboard ships to verify the setting of their marine chronometers, was installed at the top of the clock tower when it was built. The guildhall time ball is believed to be the last to have been installed in the UK and also the highest to have been installed the UK. The building was damaged in bombing in May 1941 during the

Hull Blitz The Hull Blitz was the bombing campaign that targeted the English port city of Kingston upon Hull by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during the Second World War. Large-scale attacks took place on several nights throughout March 1941, resulting in over ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. A 23-bell carillon was added to the bell tower, which is high, in 2004 and mechanised winding equipment for the clock was installed in 2013. In 2016, the council launched an appeal seeking funds from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

and other donors to enable it to raise sufficient funds to restore the time ball. In October 2018 the Heritage Lottery Fund announced a contribution of £281,100 to the council's appeal. Once the time ball has been restored, it is intended that the public will be allowed access to view the mechanism; such access is not possible at other time ball sites such as the Royal Observatory in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

and the Nelson Monument in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Inside the Guildhall

The main entrance to The Guildhall is from Lowgate. Inside the main entrance is the Grand Staircase, which sweeps up to the Civic Suite, Reception Room and Banqueting Hall. At the foot of the staircase is a statue of

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal ...

, who granted the city's first charter in 1299. Works of art include a

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

depicting 700 years of civic history and a painting by

Terence Cuneo Terence Tenison Cuneo RGI FGRA (1 November 1907 – 3 January 1996) was a prolific English painter noted for his scenes of railways, horses and military actions. He was also the official artist for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. ...

depicting the Departure of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh from the Corporation Pier, Kingston upon Hull, for a State Visit to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

References

External links

*
Guildhall, Hull
- tour and collections information {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingston upon Hull Guildhall Buildings and structures in Kingston upon Hull City and town halls in the East Riding of Yorkshire Grade II* listed buildings in the East Riding of Yorkshire Government buildings completed in 1914

History

Inside the Guildhall

See also

References

External links