17 to 37 John William Street

Summary

Retail, offices and warehouses, mid-C19, now retail and residential.

Reasons for Designation

The mid-C19 retail, offices and warehouses, 17 to 37 John William Street, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* 17-37 John William Street is a high-quality example of a mid-C19 purpose-built commercial building designed in an elegant neoclassical style.

Historic interest:

* it was constructed as part of the Ramsden Estate’s planned 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.

Group value:

* it has strong group value with the adjacent 1-9 and 11-15 and John William Street (both Grade II listed) and with other nearby listed buildings designed in the neoclassical style within 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. Numbers 17-37 appear to have been constructed in several builds; although the architect is unknown, plans were overseen by Sir William Tite to ensure consistency and quality of design. Today (2022), many first and second floors have been converted to residential accommodation with shops below.

Details

Retail, offices and warehouses, mid-C19, now retail and residential.

MATERIALS: sandstone ashlar frontage, and coursed stone rear elevations with slate roof and ashlar stacks.

PLAN: 17-37 John William Street is part of a terrace facing east onto John William Street with various rear projections. It has a short return to St Peter’s Street where there is vehicular access into a rear courtyard.

EXTERIOR: 17 to 37 John William Street is of three storeys with rusticated quoins.

John William Street elevation: this is a long 19 bay elevation with a ground floor of shops, although bay six steps back slightly and features access through to Byram Court. This has a flat arch surmounted by the original arch of rusticated voussoirs with an infill of modern brick between the two. Numbers 19-21 also step up slightly south of Byram Court.

The majority of units feature modern shopfronts. However, the doorway of number 19 has Tuscan columns with a full entablature above, whilst the adjacent modern shopfront has a continuous moulded cornice and a rusticated pilaster with two elaborately moulded consoles immediately south of the Byram Court entrance. Although altered, number 37 features a 1930s shopfront with a canted return to St Peter’s Street with Art Deco glazing within the transom lights.

The first-floor windows contain one-over-one sashes with moulded and shouldered surrounds with entablatures, slightly projecting panelled aprons and a continuous moulded sill band. Triangular pediments feature in bays 3, 8, 11, 15 and 18, and a segmental pediment to bay 13. The latter also has a balustrade with vase-shaped balusters.

The second-floor windows have segmental heads, moulded and shouldered surrounds, keystones and two moulded consoles to each sill with a continuous moulded sill band. The windows contain three-over-six sashes, apart from the last three bays which lack glazing bars. Above is a modillion eaves cornice; the cornice to number 19-21 has paired and enriched consoles at both ends. The parapet above has panelled piers.

St Peter's Street elevation: the ground floor is rusticated and has two windows, two doorways and one segment-headed archway (with contemporary cast iron gates) in plain surrounds, with moulded and slightly dropped keystones. The floors above are similarly styled to the John William Street elevation.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

340011

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Harman, R, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England. Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South, (2017), 338-344
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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