Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 05/06/2018
SK3587SW
784-1/24/168
SHEFFIELD
CHURCH STREET (South side)
Nos.7-15 (odd) Cutlers' Hall
28/06/73
GV
II*
Cutlers' Hall. 1832. By Samuel Worth and BB Taylor. Attic storey early C20. Interior remodelled 1867 by Flockton & Abbott, with further redecoration 1893 by Hugh Stannus. Ashlar with ashlar dressings. Roof not visible. Neo Classical style.
EXTERIOR:Two storeys plus attics; eight window range. Plinth, entablature with dentilled cornice, parapet. Parapet has an enriched corniced pedestal in the centre, flanked by large carved and painted coats of arms. To left, above the entrance bay, a similar pedestal. Symmetrical main block, to right, has a single bay centre with a twelve pane sash and giant Corinthian angle pilasters, flanked by pairs of giant Corinthian columns in antis, and beyond, similar angle pilasters. Three twelve pane sashes on each side. Below, plain central doorway with granite jambs and double doors with overlight and frieze with rosettes. On either side, three larger twelve pane sashes with guard railings. Entrance bay, to left, has giant Corinthian angle pilasters and a twelve pane sash. Below, a carriage entrance with wrought-iron gates, and above them a grille with a coat of arms. Attic has eight twelve pane sashes.
INTERIOR: panelled entrance hall with granite Tuscan columns and pilasters, and marble fireplace with reset stone coat of arms and monogram of Tobias Ellis, 1692. Large branching stone staircase, 1867, with cast-iron balustrade and ramped scrolled wooden handrail. Square stairwell has coved ceiling and round-arched wooden wall panels with keystones First floor banqueting hall, 1867, has panelled marble dado and on either side, paired marbled Corinthian columns. South end has five similar single columns. East side has three round-arched moulded recesses, the central one with a bow fronted panelled gallery with half-dome. North end has a marble panelled ladies' gallery with two pairs of double doors below it. Elaborate cornice and coved panelled ceiling, with semicircular windows at the head of each bay. 1832 banqueting hall has plaster panelled walls with paired Corinthian pilasters and enriched dentilled cornice. Coffered segmental vaulted glazed ceiling with central glazed saucer dome. South end has a concave fronted enriched gallery, with an elliptical arch carried on giant Corinthian columns. Below, on each side, a panelled double door. At the opposite end, a pair of double doors with corniced doorcases. Adjoining vestibule has similar segmental vaulted coffered ceiling. Front reception room has three windows in the centre flanked by single recessed windows with paired Ionic columns in antis. Marble fireplace with mantel mirror. Dentilled cornice and coved ceiling with guilloche band. Adjoining silver gallery has early C20 wooden panelling from an ocean liner, fitted display cases, recesses at each end flanked by single Egyptian columns, and coved glazed cross beam ceiling. Adjoining drawing room has three corniced doorcases and a larger doorway to the reception room. Two corniced marble fireplaces, and coved cross beam ceiling with Greek Key and moulded cornice. Ground floor Master Cutler's room has half-height wooden panelling and egg-and-dart cornice. Resited oak Renaissance Revival style fireplace with double columns and overmantel, dated 1623. On either side, single stained glass windows. Adjoining Mistress Cutler's room has plaster panelled walls and ceiling with cornice, Classical plaster fireplace and corniced doorcases. Hughes room, 1923, has wooden wall panels with keystones and cornices, framing windows and display cases. At each end, an elliptical arch, with at one end a fireplace with portrait above, and at the other end a doorcase, both flanked by Corinthian columns. Muniment room has Adam style frieze and panelled ceiling. Hadfield hall, at rear, has double arcades of Doric columns, panelled walls and moulded cornice. At one end, a bust of Sir Robert Hadfield, surrounded by a railing and flanked by smaller busts.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Cutlers’ Hall was a significant location in the local suffrage campaign. In March 1908 Christabel Pankhurst and Mary Gawthorpe, two leaders of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) spoke at an ‘At Home’ meeting in the Hall. Meetings like this one were typical of the Union’s large propaganda campaigns aimed at boosting the membership of local branches. In October 1908, when Home Secretary Reginald McKenna was the chief guest at the Annual Cutler’s Feast, suffragettes protested loudly outside the hall. When Winston Churchill attended the same event in October 1912 a large police presence kept the suffragettes away, and he was smuggled from the railway station in a luggage lift, and driven to the Hall where crowds of women harangued him. Although the police managed to keep protesters outside they interrupted the event by sending Churchill several telegrams during the dinner.
This list entry was amended in 2018 as part of the centenary commemorations of the 1918 Representation of the People Act.
Listing NGR: SK3537787381