8-12 Trinity House Lane

Summary

Former Inland Revenue Office of 1865 by William Foale, with C20 alterations.

Reasons for Designation

8-12 (consecutive) Trinity House Lane, constructed in 1865 to designs by William Foale, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it is a well-detailed building in neoclassical style;
* William Foale was a well-regarded architect and surveyor to Trinity House who designed a number of buildings of architectural quality for them.

Historic interest:

* as one of the key buildings on Trinity House Lane where the majority of the buildings were constructed by the Trinity House Guild to provide a rental income from their estate in addition to their shipping revenues.

Group value:

* the building is one of a range of listed buildings on Trinity House Lane and Whitefriargate, which together combine to impart the historical character of this part of Hull Old Town.

History

8-12 Trinity House Lane was built in 1865 as offices for the Inland Revenue, Stamp Office and Official Receiver in Bankruptcy on the site of the old Marine Almshouses. It was designed by William Foale, architect and surveyor to Hull Trinity House, a religious guild established in 1369 that became a mariners’ guild in the mid-C15. Hull Trinity House has owned the Carmelite Estate (the former site of the Whitefriars friary) since 1621 and began to let out land on building leases, starting with the corner of Trinity House Lane and Whitefriargate. Over the centuries there has been an ongoing renewal of buildings in the estate with properties selected for redevelopment when their income would show the greatest improvement in financial returns. William Foale also designed the gateway to Trinity House in Trinity House Lane (1842), the Conservancy Buildings (built 1843, enlarged 1847), the Colonial Chambers on Prince’s Dock Street (1846) and the Marine Office, Posterngate, (1868 and 1874).

In 1910 F W Woolworths took over 8-12 Trinity House Lane and also number five Whitefriargate, and undertook works to create a shop floor with offices above. New extensions were erected between the buildings and the ground floor of number five was adapted to make a double-fronted store. During works, a coffined skeleton associated with the Whitefriars monastery was unearthed (stone coffins and skeletons had also been discovered on the site in the mid-C18). The new store opened on Saturday 12 November 1910. Other businesses occupied the upper floors in the early C20, including solicitors, estate agents, the Threlkeld lead mining company and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Division for Humber.

Number four Whitefriargate was amalgamated into Woolworths department store by the 1:1250 OS 1948 map, and by 1955 the Woolworths store extended from Whitefriargate, via various extensions, into the ground floor of 8 to 12 Trinity House Lane through punctured openings. Number 12 contained a separate independent entrance with a stone staircase to first-floor offices. 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 floor.

Details

Former Inland Revenue Office, 1865, by William Foale, with C20 alterations. Neoclassical style.

MATERIALS: ashlar, brick and render.

PLAN: polygonal on plan.

EXTERIOR: the two-storey building faces east onto Trinity House Lane and is constructed of ashlar with a plain plinth, rusticated pilasters, sill and first-floor band, a moulded and dentillated cornice and low coped parapet.

The main (east) elevation is of seven symmetrical bays with the outer bays defined by rusticated pilasters and the inner five bays projecting forwards to a pedimented central bay. The window openings all have moulded surrounds with cornices; the ground-floor surrounds are also eared and contain predominantly three-over-three sashes. The central bay has a moulded and dentillated pediment, and a ground-floor open pedimented entrance (as of 2022 - infilled) supported by two pairs of slim pilasters with large scrolled acanthus leaf brackets. Within is a blocked keystoned round-arched window (a former doorway) with rusticated surround and decorative square blocks between pilasters. Above is a first-floor tripartite stone mullioned window with a bracketed sill and Greek key decoration across the architrave. Two scroll brackets, with acanthus leaf drops, rise from the mullions to support a moulded cornice and pediment. Either side of the central bay is a symmetrical arrangement of two bays with windows to each floor; the ground-floor south window has been converted into a tall doorway with blank overlight. The end bays each have a ground-floor doorway with moulded and eared surround and an overlight and a first-floor window. The building has a double-pitched slate roof with a small central cross gable, a roof lantern, and eight symmetrically arranged and rendered gable and ridge stacks with octagonal double flues.

Rear (west) elevation: The ground floor is hidden from view by a single-storey C20 extension, which connects with numbers four to five Whitefriargate. The first floor is in red brick and is of seven bays with symmetrical fenestration, comprising a central wide arched window with two sash windows and a tripartite sash window either side.

This entry was formerly named 8 AND 10 TRINITY HOUSE LANE.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

387820

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Neave, D, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, (1995), 538
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, (1972), 277
Wildridge, T T, Old and new Hull: A series of drawings of the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull, (1884), 9, 10

Other
Hull Museums Collection, KINCM.1981.795.a-m, 1882 print
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer Saturday 20 January 1912

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