SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

1894 Civic Week - 22nd September 1928    

How odd. Just seen the pic of Portsmouth Town Hall and read the message. My friends nan lived in Portsmouth and we used to go stay with her often years ago. I always used to say the place reminded me of Leeds, it just had that feeling about it and the people are friendly too.

Jogon wrote: Decorated for Coronation Ceremony 1902And below the King & Queen leaving the Town Hall 1908    And an old PostcardFrom the air 1947The red cross/click to view is a picture which originated "during construction".Portsmouth Town Hall (1890) has always looked 'kinda f'miliar', and perhaps here's why:-"...... The design for the building was under the control of a sub-committee of the Council, the members of which greatly admired the architecture of the modern Town Halls in the North of England, particularly those of Leeds and Bolton. The latter had been designed by Mr William Hill who was appointed the Architect for Portsmouth. He copied many of the features from Bolton but made so many improvements that it was larger by some 412,000 cubic feet. The lowest tender for the construction, which was carried out by Messrs. Armitage and Hodgson of Leeds, was £98,245..."Did they build Leeds? Wow, very cool. I've never been to Portsmouth but I think I'll have to now, if only to get a look at the town hall.

A very easily not seen feature is a harp on the roof of the Town Hall. It only seems to be visible on street level from Great George Street and only then just about in front of O'Neill's bar. This is a very zoomed-in photo that I took on August 30 2013 (it is unfortunately not sharp). The harp may be well known to SL viewers but as I only recently noticed it I thought I would mention it for anyone that doesn't know of it. I shall post a photo next that shows the harp's location on the Town Hall.

This photo was taken on August 30 2013 from Great George Street and shows the harp just visible about in the centre of the top.

When I was on Great George Street passing by the Town Hall on August 30 2013 I noticed some work was going on that gave a view into the inside of the Town Hall there (it looked like there was heating and/or air conditioning equipment inside, though that is just my guess). Some of the work was partly covered on the outside and workmen were inside so I did not try to get any photos just there. However, a very small area was open nearer the steps so I took this very much street level photo that shows some of the equipment inside. Though not the greatest of photos I thought (hope!) it would still be of interest if only for the unusual viewing point. PS. On enlarging the original photo from which the one here is a reduced copy the wording on what seems to an upright wooden beam reads "New pressups unit" with a downward pointing arrow. The following link will bring up a Google Street View that shows where the small normally blanked off opening is a little to the left of the steps on Great George Street. The ventilated feature immediately to its left is where the other work could be seen. The door on the far left is where the gents toilets used to be. http://goo.gl/maps/mszxs

I suppose that it is of little interest to anyone but me, but my grandfather was brought by his father to see Queen Victoria open Leeds Town Hall - about 1860 I think.

lek wrote: I suppose that it is of little interest to anyone but me, but my grandfather was brought by his father to see Queen Victoria open Leeds Town Hall - about 1860 I think. Lek, That this has been remembered and passed down through several generations on an individual basis says much about how important and grand the occasion must have been to people.

lek wrote: I suppose that it is of little interest to anyone but me, but my grandfather was brought by his father to see Queen Victoria open Leeds Town Hall - about 1860 I think. Welcome aboard I like stuff like that - it's good to compare those dates ("with his father") and work out what wars / conflicts were going on, was Grandpa still around and where might he have fought.http://www.leodis.net/discovery/discove ... _484569729