4-6 Whitefriargate, Hull

Summary

Former Smith’s bank and adjoining houses, now shops, of 1829-1830, by Charles Mountain Junior, with C20 alterations. Classical styling.

Reasons for Designation

4-6 Whitefriargate is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an elegant early-C19 classically-designed symmetrical terrace with a central pedimented bank flanked by two houses;
* as a good example of the work of Charles Mountain Junior, a well-regarded architect and surveyor to Hull Trinity House, who designed a number of buildings in Hull, including the listed New Theatre;
* the notable figurative sculptor Thomas Earle designed the eye-catching maritime-themed relief sculpture that embellishes the pediment;
* the building has strong group value due to close proximity with a number of carefully planned listed buildings, including the Grade II*-listed former Neptune Inn, which visually enhance and impart character to the historic streetscape of Whitefriargate, one of the main streets in Hull Old Town.

Historic interest:

* as one of the key buildings on the south side of Whitefriargate where the majority of the buildings were constructed in the late C18 and early C19 to provide Trinity House with a rental income from their Whitefriargate estate in addition to their shipping revenues.

History

These buildings, of 1829-1830, were designed by Charles Mountain Junior (1773-1839) for Hull Trinity House, a religious guild (established 1369) that became a mariners’ guild in the mid-C15 and whose estate covers the majority of the estate of the Whitefriars (a Carmelite friary, founded in 1122 in Syria and established in Hull by around 1289). Hull Trinity House was originally a tenant of the Carmelites whose estate extended east from Trinity House Lane and north to south from Whitefriargate to Posterngate. With the dissolution of the monastery in 1536 the estate transferred through several hands until Alderman Thomas Ferres transferred what remained (known as the Ferres Estate) to Hull Trinity House mariners’ guild in 1621. Hull Trinity House began to let out land on building leases, starting with the corner of Trinity House Lane and Whitefriargate, and there was an ongoing renewal of buildings in the estate with properties selected for redevelopment when their income would show the greatest improvement in financial returns.

Numbers 1-9 Whitefriargate were part of the long-term redevelopment of Whitefriargate carried out by Hull Trinity House and were designed as a 29-bay, three-storey, terrace. The redevelopment was undertaken in phases and 4-6 Whitefriargate was built as a symmetrical 11-bay main block. The central pedimented block (number five) was designed for Smith's Bank, and its pediment was sculpted by Thomas Earle (1810-1876), a well-regarded figurative sculptor. Numbers four and six on either side were houses.

In 1902 Smith’s Bank merged with the Union Bank of London to form the Union of London and Smith’s Bank. In 1910 F W Woolworths took over numbers 8-12 Trinity House Lane and number 5 Whitefriargate, and undertook works to amalgamate the building's ground floors into a substantial shop floor with offices above. New extensions were erected between the buildings and the ground floor of number 5 Whitefriargate was adapted to make a double-fronted store. During works, a coffined skeleton was unearthed, associated with the Whitefriars monastery (stone coffins and skeletons had also been discovered on the site in the mid-C18). The new store opened on Saturday 12 November 1910. Number four and six remained separate shops and were, for a time, the premises of G & G Wilson Dentists and E S Wilson and Sons Solicitors.

By 1948, number 5 Whitefriargate was amalgamated with number 4 Whitefriargate. The Hull 1955 Goad Insurance Plan shows numbers 4 and 5 Whitefriargate extending across to 8-12 Trinity House Lane (then known as Trinity House Chambers), with stockrooms at the south-west end of a ground-floor extension, offices on the first floor, and staffroom and canteens above. In April 1984 Woolworths closed and it has subsequently been the premises for similarly large stores, including Peacocks and Boyes, with offices remaining on the upper floors. Number 6 Whitefriargate has remained as a separate shop throughout.

Charles Mountain Junior, architect and surveyor, was the son of Charles Mountain (around 1743-1805) and practised in Hull until 1834, with designs including Hull New Theatre (NHLE entry: 1210061), Trinity Almshouses and the Master Mariners’ Hospital.

Details

Former Smith’s bank and adjoining houses, now shops, of 1829-1830, by Charles Mountain Junior, with C20 alterations. Classical styling.

MATERIALS: brick with painted ashlar dressings, concealed roof (pitched, probably slate coverings).

PLAN: a polygonal building aligned east-west that forms the central block of a 29-bay composition comprising 1-9 Whitefriargate.

EXTERIOR: it is an 11-bay building of three storeys with pediment and balustraded parapet set on a substantial roof cornice, and concealing an eastern roof dormer, two off-set ridge stacks, and a single end ridge stack to the west. On the ground floor are two late-C20 shopfronts; the larger eastern shop with red granite and black gabbro-clad piers and a recessed entrance, and both with early-C21 alteration and an incomplete ground-floor cornice. On the floors above the five central bays are defined by giant pilasters, which rise from the first floor to the pediment; the outer pilasters are Doric, whilst the inner pilasters are Ionic with windows between. The pilasters support a pediment containing the arms of Thomas Ferres (Ferres bestowed the site upon Hull Trinity House in 1621) set within a Rococo cartouche flanked by two sea gods and other maritime references. To the centre of the re-glazed first floor are five six-over-six windows with moulded surrounds and pediments on scroll brackets. To each side are three bays; the first floor with three six-over-six sashes with cornices on consoles, and the second floor with three three-over-three sashes with brick flat arches.

Rear not inspected, information from other sources. Number 4 Whitefriargate retains eight-over-eight first- and second-floor sashes, a round-arched sashed stair window, and four-over-four third-floor sashes. Number 5 Whitefriargate has a rendered upper storey with C20 window fenestration and an emergency exit. Number 6 Whitefriargate retains a second-floor eight-over-eight sash window and third-floor four-over-four sash window.

INTERIOR: the ground floor is divided between storage and retail space with early-C20 columns in situ and a basement beneath. The upper floors are offices.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

387837

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, (1972), 277
Hall, Ivan and Elisabeth, Georgian Hull, (1978-1979), 53, 54, 60

Other
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Earle, Thomas (1810-1876)
Hull Museum Collections, KINCM:2008:5020:112, Whitefriargate, 1905 slide.
Hull Museum Collections, KINCM:1929.332, Smith’s Bank Whitefriargate, drawing.
Hull Museums Collection, KINCM:1982.1002.190.2, handbill
Hull Packet Tuesday 5 April 1831
Hull Daily Mail Tuesday 19 July 1910

End of official list entry

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