11-15 John William Street

Summary

Retail, offices and warehouses, mid-C19.

Reasons for Designation

Numbers 11 to 15 John William Street, mid-C19 retail, offices and warehouses, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* 11-15 John William Street is a good example of a mid-C19 purpose-built commercial building designed in an elegant neoclassical style;
* the design of this building and its grouping with the adjacent listed 1-9 and 17-37 John William Street gives a strong neoclassical character within the New Town.

Historic interest:

* it was constructed as part of the Ramsden Estate’s New Town development and its design was overseen by Sir William Tite who worked for the Ramsden Estate to ensure the architectural integrity of the New Town.

History

Huddersfield New Town was a planned development laid out on a grid pattern that took advantage of the arrival of the Leeds-Manchester Railway (1849) and the construction of JP Pritchett’s grand station building. Over the subsequent thirty years, previously open land was developed into a bold, cohesive town planning scheme.

The development was spearheaded by George Loch, agent of the Ramsden Estate. The Ramsden family owned the manor of Huddersfield from 1599 to 1920 and were responsible for much of the town’s historic development.

The buildings of the New Town included warehouses, offices, retail and hospitality all of which were designed with similar ashlar-faced neoclassical or Italianate frontages. The Ramsden Estate inspected all proposals for new buildings on their land to ensure quality development. Buildings were designed mainly by local architects but overseen by London architect, William Tite, who was retained from 1851 to inspect designs and maintain the Ramsden Estate’s high architectural standards.

The single land ownership allowed an example of town planning to be created that was almost without precedent in terms of scale and ambition. The development of New Town is illustrative of the Victorian-era tensions between a landed estate and a town corporation. The corporation resisted Ramsden’s attempts to incorporate a town hall into the New Town scheme and eventually, following secret negotiations, purchased the estate for £1.3m, earning Huddersfield the moniker ‘the town that bought itself’.

John William Street is the principal artery through the New Town named after Sir John William Ramsden, 5th Baronet. Its three-storey classical terraces were built between 1851 to 1858 with shops below and offices and warehouses above. The architect of no 11-15 is unknown, although the plans would have been overseen by Sir William Tite to ensure consistency and quality of design.

Details

Retail, offices and warehouses, mid-C19.

MATERIALS: sandstone ashlar frontage and slate roof.

PLAN: 11-15 John William Street is part of a terrace facing east onto John William Street with short rear projection.

EXTERIOR: the building is of three storeys and five bays. The ground floor features modern shopfronts flanking a central entrance that leads to the upper floors. On the first floor, the windows contain sashes (the fourth and fifth bay retaining a single upper glazing bar). The windows have moulded surrounds, keystone and entablature, and a continuous moulded sill. The second-floor windows contain two-over-two sashes and have plain raised surrounds, cornice and sills on plain brackets. Above is a modillion eaves cornice.

(Formerly listed as JOHN WILLIAM STREET (West Side) Nos 11 to 15 (odd)).

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

340010

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Harman, R, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England. Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South, (2017), 338-334
Royle, E, Power in the Land: The Ramsdens and their Huddersfield Estate 1542-1920 , (2020)
Stephenson, C, The Ramsdens and Their Estate in Huddersfield , (1972)

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