Conservancy Buildings

Conservancy Buildings

A post office converted to offices, initially built in 1843 by architect William Foale, with an extension added in 1847 also by Foale. The building was substantially remodelled around 1877 for the Humber Conservancy Commissioners and again around 1908 for the Humber Conservancy Board.

The structure is constructed of ashlar stonework now painted white to resemble stucco, orange brick with ashlar dressings, slate roofs, and brick stacks.

The building occupies the rear of a narrow rectangular courtyard accessed through a wide passageway at the west end of number 9 Whitefriargate, located behind buildings fronting the south side of Whitefriargate. The rear abuts a range of Trinity House at the west end and overlooks an inner courtyard of that complex.

The plan comprises two six-bay ranges. The eastern brick range is two storeys with an entrance doorway at the west end leading to an entrance hall and staircase. The western white-painted range is single-storey with a doorway at the west end opening into a north-south corridor, containing two offices and a large board room originally used as the letter office. The rear south side is two-storey with a large single-storey room at the east end, originally part of the pay room. A second staircase rises against the rear wall of the single-storey front range.

The front elevation of the single-storey west range displays painted ashlar with a plinth, recessed two-bay centre rising above two-bay side wings topped by a triangular pediment. The flanking wings have entablatures with dentil cornices and parapets. The centre features two two-light round-headed windows in raised frames with cornices, above which sits a relief royal coat of arms flanked by relief laurel wreaths. The left-hand wing contains a pair of round-headed windows with pilasters, moulded arch frames and giant keystones. The right-hand wing has a similar round-headed window with pilasters, moulded arch frame and giant keystone, alongside a wider round-headed arch in the sixth bay with a boarded doorway (formerly a fielded six-panel door and overlight, altered in 1994), with a plain fanlight. Most windows have unhorned sash frames except the fifth-bay window which has a horned sash frame. The windows in the left-hand wing and the two-light left window in the centre contain leaded and stained glass. Behind the parapets and pediment is a hipped slate roof with a raised roof lantern, a second parallel hipped slate roof with two brick stacks on its east side, and a narrow lean-to slate roof over the north-south corridor.

The front elevation of the two-storey east range is orange brick in English bond with an ashlar plinth and ashlar entablature and parapet. The first floor has six large rectangular windows with stone sills and gauged brick lintels, fitted with eight-over-eight pane unhorned sashes. The ground floor has similar windows across four bays. The fifth and sixth bays contain a slightly projecting doorcase with painted ashlar plinth and moulded cornice, banded ashlar painted white to impost level, and banded lighter orange brickwork above. The wide round-headed doorway has a concave ashlar frame with stepped voussoirs and keystone, containing double doors of three fielded panels each with a plain fanlight. Behind the building parapet is a hipped slate roof with brick stacks at the centre of the ridge and east side wall.

The interior of the west front range includes a large board room with a parquet floor and deeply coved panelled ceiling with a rectangular raised roof lantern. The lantern features a foliate frieze and moulded cornice with square glazing panels separated by pilasters, a moulded cornice and two enriched roses to the plaster ceiling. The walls have deep skirting boards with panelled dado and large enriched frames. Opposing doorways have architraves with pilasters and moulded cornices, with eight-fielded-panel doors. The four windows are flanked by pilasters with fielded panels between. The sashes contain leaded lights; the upper lights each show a different type of boat in stained glass, while the lower lights contain stained-glass roundels depicting Goole, Grimsby, Kingston upon Hull, and the Humber Conservancy Board badge with the date 1908. The two adjacent rooms have parquet floors, deep moulded skirting boards and dado rails, stone mantelpieces painted white with consoles supporting shelves, and moulded door architraves with entablatures and four-panelled doors. The inner room has a dentil cornice and formerly contained a rectangular roof lantern, now replaced by a solid slate roof.

The east front range opens into an L-shaped entrance and stair hall with curved inner wall, moulded cornice and tiled dado of cream, green and dark blue tiles with repeated Art Nouveau decoration, continued up the staircase and along the ground-floor south corridor. A fireplace with timber mantelpiece and moulded eared door architraves is also present. The open-well staircase has a closed string with timber balustrade featuring square panelled and reeded newel posts with shaped finials, moulded handrails and turned balusters. The staircase to the rear of the west front range is similarly detailed but lacks the tiled dado.

Ground-floor rooms in the east range and rear building feature moulded eared door architraves, many with five-panelled doors, moulded cornices and fireplaces with timber mantelpieces. The inner south-east room has a canted bay window overlooking a small yard and an adjacent walk-in safe. The large south-east rear room has panelled and glazed double doors at the east end of the south corridor, is full-height with a deeply coved ceiling, wide tripartite sash windows with etched lower lights and horizontal clerestorey windows.

Many first-floor rooms also feature moulded cornices, moulded and eared door architraves with five-panelled doors, and fireplaces with timber mantelpieces. The north-east building in the east front range contains built-in cupboards on both sides of the fireplace with panelled lower doors and leaded glazed upper doors.