Former Colonial and United States Mortgage Company Office

Summary

Former mortgage company office, 1884-1886, by Robert Clamp of Hull and Alfred Gelder, with late-C20 alterations.

Reasons for Designation

The former Colonial and United States Mortgage Office, 67 Whitefriargate, by Robert Clamp and Alfred Gelder of Hull, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* a striking corner office built using high-quality ashlar stone with elaborately carved detailing in the Renaissance Revival style.

Historic interest:

* it was designed by Robert Clamp and Alfred Gelder; the latter figure being an illustrious and passionate champion of the city of Hull who undertook ambitious re-ordering and civic building in the city centre.

Group value:

* the building is one of a range of listed buildings on Whitefriargate, Land of Green Ginger and Silver Street that together impart the historical character of this part of Hull Old Town.

History

The former Colonial and United States Mortgage Company office building was constructed in 1884-1886 to designs by Robert Clamp of Hull (1834-1907) and (William) Alfred Gelder (1855-1941).

Robert Clamp (1834-1907), architect and surveyor, established an architectural practice in Hull between 1874 and 1903 and designed a range of buildings in the city, including number 39 Whitefriargate. He worked for several years as a principal assistant to William Botterill before setting up his own practice in 1880.

Alfred Gelder, architect and politician, was apprenticed to Clamp's architectural practice and by the late C19, he had established a large and successful architectural practice built on connections and friendships made through his Methodism. In 1898 he was elected mayor and then re-elected for a record four more terms in succession, allowing him to undertake an ambitious re-ordering and civic building programme in the city centre. His work led to the creation of City Hall, Queen Victoria Square, King Edward Street, and a wide new road named Alfred Gelder Street that cut through the maze of yards and slum housing in the north part of the Old Town around Whitefriargate. Gelder was knighted in 1903 in recognition of these improvements and he later stood as a Liberal MP before losing his seat and returning to prioritise working on the future of Hull. Amongst his schemes was the infilling of the redundant Queen’s Dock to create a ‘beautiful boulevard’, completed in 1935.

67 Whitefriargate remained the premises of the Colonial and United States Mortgage Company until the 1920s, and subsequently became the business premises for various offices and shops, including the Singer Sewing Machine Company and Britannia Building Society.

Details

Former mortgage company office, 1884-1886, by Robert Clamp of Hull and Alfred Gelder, with late-C20 alterations. Renaissance Revival style.

MATERIALS: ashlar, slate roof coverings.

PLAN: an L-shaped building situated on a corner plot with a south elevation to Whitefriargate, a canted main (south-east) entrance bay, and an east elevation to the Land of Green Ginger.

EXTERIOR: the building is of three storeys plus attic and is constructed of ashlar with rusticated and banded pilasters, elaborately ornamented entablatures and moulded cornices. The slate mansard roof has five attic dormers and four ashlar stacks (two gable end and two ridge). The stacks are ornamented with plain pilasters and moulded cornice and coping.

The single-bay canted main (south-east) entrance has a wide early-C21 shopfront entrance which wraps around to both return elevations. Above is a two-storey round cornered and canted bay window, with a decorated entablature on both floors. The first floor has three mullion and transom windows, with one-over-one sashes and plain glazed top-lights. The second floor has three mullion windows, with one-over-one sashes, with a decorated wrought-iron balcony resting on stone brackets. A large canted south-east dormer is set behind a balcony balustrade in the attic storey above. It has a moulded and elaborately ornamented keystoned window of two lights, which is flanked by Baroque strapwork panels under a moulded and decorated cornice. The cornice supports a shaped and scrolled gable ornamented with an egg-and-dart frieze and fruit swag and topped by a segmental shell pediment.

The six-bay right (east) return onto the Land of Green Ginger has three ground-floor cross windows and a recessed entrance with mullioned over-light and leaded canopy north of the early-C21 shopfront. The windows are separated by vermiculated rusticated pilaster strips topped by ashlar blocks decorated with ribbon swags. Above is an elaborately ornamented and moulded entablature with moulded and dentillated cornice, which is supported on four pairs of fluted brackets and a fluted and banded pilaster with a Corinthian capital to the north. The first floor has six bays of cross windows with one-over-one sashes and a pseudo-balcony balustrade. Rusticated and banded pilasters separate the bays and support an entablature with elaborate stone appliques running between square stopped and sculpted pilaster capitals. The second floor has six smaller two-light mullioned windows with moulded sills and decorated panels below. It has a similarly ornate, but bracketed entablature, with bas-relief metopes and simple medallion square stops. The attic storey has a low panelled parapet decorated with simple medallions and bas reliefs. Three dormers with decorative scrolled volute jambs rise from the parapet. Each has a moulded window surround, with two-over-two sashes and a moulded cornice and swan-neck pediment.

The two-bay left (south) return onto Whitefriargate is of a similar design, but with a single-bay ground-floor early-C21 shop window, two windows to each upper floor and a single dormer.

INTERIOR: the ground floor was refitted in the late C20.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

387851

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Other
Hull City Records Office: OBLM 7099
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Gelder, Sir (William) Alfred (1855-1941)

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