The Buildings Of Halifax Part 1

 

I managed a good walk around Halifax the other day, and I decided to focus on some of the lovely buildings we all walk by each day and never really notice. This week is therefore devoted to "The Buildings Of Halifax," and I start at the corner of Princess Street and Crossley Street, and the building that was the original headquarters of the Halifax Permanent Benefit Building Society.

The second in my Buildings of Halifax series features Hope Hall, which now occupies a plot between Clare Road and Clare Street. This is a view of what now is the rear of the hall, but back in the eighteenth century, when it was built, it was part of an imposing front elevation. It's well worth the short walk from the town centre.

I must have walked past Somerset House on Rawson Street, Halifax hundreds of times in my youth without ever knowing it was there. From the beginning of the twentieth century until the beginning of the twenty-first, this fine example of Georgian architecture (by John Carr of York) was hidden behind a row of shops. These days it is seeing the light of day once again, and Halifax is all the better for it.

In 1898, the renaissance came to Halifax in the form of the new Police Station and Magistrates Court building on Harrison Road and Blackwall. When it ceased duty as an offenders' one-stop shop at the start of the current century, it was in search of a new function. Luckily it has found one, and Halifax is a better place because of it.