Northern Academy of Performing Arts

Northern Academy of Performing Arts

A former College of Art on the north side of Anlaby Road in Kingston upon Hull, designed in 1901 by the architects Lanchester, Steward & Rickards and opened in September 1905. The building is constructed in red brick with profuse ashlar dressings and slate roofs, featuring a large coped side wall stack. Decorative stonework includes a plinth, quoins, string courses, and a first-floor band.

The building comprises a central block of three storeys with a higher three-storey rear block, flanked by two-storey wings, all set above a basement level.

The Anlaby Road front elevation features a slightly recessed centre with a pedimented gable containing a mosaic designed by Alfred Garth Jones and executed by the Bromsgrove Guild. A semicircular two-storey porch projects forward, with first-floor and main cornices and a wrought-iron railing at the top. A tall glazing-bar window on the first floor is flanked by caryatids carved by Henry Charles Frehr and features a railing. On either side stands a plaque, with a fifteen-pane sash window and apron beyond. Above this is a central twelve-pane sash. Below the porch, stone steps with capped pedestals lead to a doorway flanked by Doric columns with wrought-iron openwork lamps. An oval vestibule contains a pilastered doorcase with overlight. On either side of the vestibule are ten-pane casements with moulded surrounds and cornices, beneath which are basement entrances with railings.

The flanking wings feature first-floor and main cornices, with a blank first floor to Anlaby Road and two margin-glazed casements with moulded surrounds and cornices below. Single fifteen-pane lights serve the basement storey. The left return has three round glazing-bar windows with, below them, a central double door with overlight flanked by three ten-pane windows, all beneath cornices. The right return contains a central recess topped with a gabled glazed dormer, flanked by two-storey blocks. The right block has corner pilasters and a large tripartite glazing-bar window on each floor, the upper one carrying a flat gable above the cornice.

The rear elevation displays a slightly recessed three-storey central block with a pedimented gable, first-floor band, and second-floor cornice. At the rear corner stands a square belvedere with a coped lantern on top. Three ten-pane margin-glazed windows are separated by pilasters and sheltered beneath a common cornice. Above these is a large segment-headed glazing-bar window flanked by corniced cartouches. The ground floor features a glazed lean-to projection. The flanking wings have first-floor bands and segmental pediments, with a segment-headed glazing-bar window above and a larger flat-headed glazing-bar window below.

The interior contains an oval two-storey entrance hall with balcony and staircase. The staircase features a fine wrought-iron balustrade with wooden handrail, with the upper stair supported on round arches and Doric columns. The hall floor is decorated with terrazzo tiles. Studios and offices throughout retain many original features including doors, fireplaces, coving, and partitions.