Trail:

The Buildings of City Square

Beginning on the south side and walking in a clock-wise direction, the buildings surrounding the Square are as follows:

  • Queen's Hotel: by W.Curtis Green and W.H.Hamlyn, 1937. Grade II
  • Cinema, station concourse, and the offices of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company: by W.Curtis Green and W.H.Hamlyn, 1931-38. Grade II

Cross Wellington Street to reach the first of three prominent corner site buildings:

  • Majestic cinema, 1921 by Pascal J. Stienlet, now the 'Majestyk' night club. Grade II

Cross Quebec Street to the west side of the Square:

Cross Infirmary Street to the north side of the Square and the second corner site building:

  • Norwich House, no. 1 City Square, 1997 by Abbey Hanson Rowe.

Cross Park Row to reach:

  • Priestley House, No.1 Park Row, 1996-7 by Fletcher Joseph Architects. It stands on the site of Priestley Hall. This was the school attached to Mill Hill chapel, and designed by its architect, Crowther in a churchy 15th century GothicGlossary Term.
  • The Mill Hill Unitarian Chapel was designed in 1847-8 by Bowman and Crowther of Manchester. It shows the influence of the parish church of 1838-41 by R. Dennis Chantrell and marks the change from the GeorgianGlossary Term classicalGlossary Term to the Victorian GothicGlossary Term allegiance among Nonconformist chapels. Grade II*
  • Exchange House: c.1965 by Kitson, Pyman and Partners. Pevsner declared 'The character of City Square has been much changed by three new buildings of a scale new to the square' and regarded this as the best of the three - 'the podiumGlossary Term curves well into Boar Lane'.

Cross Boar Lane to reach the third corner site building:

  • The premises of the Yorkshire District Banking Company, now a bar, by W.W.Gwyther 1899. Grade II.

Cross Bishopgate Street to returnGlossary Term to the Queen's Hotel.

Glossary

Classical

A term used for the architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome, revived at the Renaissance and subsequently imitated around the Western world. It uses a range of conventional forms, the roots of which are the orders, or types of column each with its fixed proportions and ornaments (especially Doric, Ionic and Corinthian). Classical buildings tend also to be symmetrical, both externally and on plan. Classical architecture in England began c. 1530 with applied ornamental motifs, followed within a few decades by fully-fledged new buildings.

Georgian

The architecture of the British Isles in the reigns of George I, II, III and IV, i.e. 1714-1830, in which the classical style and classical proportions became the norm for both major and minor buildings.

Gothic

The style of the Middle Ages from the later 12th century to the Renaissance, with which it co-existed in certain forms into the 17th century. Characterized in its full development by the pointed arch, the rib-vault and an often skeletal masonry structure for churches, combined with large glazed windows. The term was originally associated with the concept of the barbarian Goths as assailants of classical civilization.

Podium

A continuous raised platform supporting a building; or a large block of two or three storeys beneath a multi-storey block of smaller area.

Post

Upright support in a structure.

Return

Part of a wall or moulding that continues at a different angle, usually a right-angle.

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