30-33 Whitefriargate, Hull

This prominent polygonal range comprises four late 18th-century houses that have been converted to shops and offices. The buildings were re-fronted in the late 19th century in Classical and neo-Greek styles, with further alterations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Construction and Materials

The buildings are constructed of brick with ashlar stone dressings, finished externally with stucco and render. The roofs are slate, hipped on the main range with a low-pitched hipped roof over the rear extension.

Plan and Overall Form

The complex consists of a rectangular east-west aligned front range with an L-shaped extension to number 30 facing Princes Dock Street. A late 18th-century three-storey brick extension is attached to the rear of number 33, also facing Princes Dock Street. Early 21st-century polygonal extensions have been added to the rear of the range. The main building presents elevations to both Whitefriargate and Princes Dock Street, with a distinctive bull-nose corner at Beverley Gate.

Exterior: Whitefriargate Elevation

The stuccoed three-storey front range includes attic accommodation. The hipped slate roof carries nine sashed attic dormers—four facing north, four south, and one west—with four large coped and rendered chimney stacks positioned off-centre above a moulded eaves cornice. The upper floors feature moulded window surrounds, predominantly fitted with two-over-two pane sashes.

The main north elevation to Whitefriargate contains three ground-floor shopfronts. Numbers 30 to 32 have early 21st-century shopfronts (numbers 30 and 31 were amalgamated in 2021). Number 33 retains an early 20th-century Art Deco-style shopfront with pilasters supporting the fascia, which is ornamented with triglyphs below the cornice brackets and features moulded window mullions between plain glass and single-pane transom lights.

In the lefthand bay, a covered passageway features Corinthian pilasters and large decorative brackets supporting an entablature and cornice decorated with the crest of Trinity House School.

The twelve-bay upper floors are divided by plain pilasters into sections of one, three, six, and two bays from left to right. On the first floor, the window surrounds have either moulded triangular pediments or moulded cornices supported on scrolled consoles. Above the passageway is a shortened window with a cornice. The three bays to the right have a pedimented central window flanked by windows with cornices. The central six bays feature a central pair of windows under a wide pediment supported on two pairs of scroll brackets, with two windows with cornices to either side. The two righthand bays have cornices with single-pane windows. The second-floor windows are slightly smaller and have moulded window surrounds supported on bracketed sills.

Exterior: Western and Princes Dock Street Elevations

The stuccoed west return matches the Whitefriargate style and comprises a four-bay elevation with a bull-nose lefthand corner and a three-bay elevation to Princes Dock Street. The bull-nose corner has a recessed and canted shopfront entrance (number 33) supported on a pair of fluted early 20th-century neo-Greek Doric columns. To each side of the glazed double entrance door with overlight is a plate glass window and transom light with moulded mullions. Two similar shop windows face Princes Dock Street, with a single-pane Art Deco style window in the righthand bay flanked by pilasters.

On the first floor, the bull-nose corner has a single-pane window with a convex pediment supported on brackets and a plate glass window. To the right are three similar windows with a central pediment and cornices to the outer windows. The second floor has a convex window to the bull-nose corner and three windows to the right (the central window blind), all with two-over-two pane horned sashes.

Attached to the right is a late 18th-century three-bay brick building that became a rear extension to number 33 in the 19th century. The ground floor has two splayed flat-arched brick windows—the left infilled with brick, the right with a stone sill and six-pane frame with a 20th-century top-light. To each side is a door. The left door has a 19th-century wooden door surround with pilasters supporting a cornice; the right door has a late 18th-century splayed brick doorway with a 20th-century door and three-panelled overlight. On the first floor is an Edwardian four-pane shop window (blind in 2021) with wooden pilaster mullions, five-pane toplights, and a fascia and cornice decorated with raised panels. The second floor has three 18th-century splayed flat-arched brick windows, the lefthand one blind.

Exterior: Rear Elevation

The rear red brick elevation is partially concealed by single- and two-storey utilitarian extensions erected in the 2000s, with two sets of external metal stairs up to the second floor. The second floor contains four residences (unused in 2021) with 21st-century entrance doors to numbers 30 to 32. Numbers 31 and 32 are both of two bays with hall-aligned entrances and a flanking window. Number 30 is of three bays but with the 21st-century extension blocking a former window opening (infilled in the 2000s). The windows have three-over-six pane sashes and splayed segmental arched heads. Number 33 has one three-over-six pane unhorned sash on the second floor. Above the passageway to Zebedee's Yard is a six-over-six pane horned sash window to the first and second floors. The 21st-century doorway openings have stretcher brick lintels and half-glazed panel doors. There are two 19th-century hoppers and one late 18th- to early 19th-century fluted half-circular hopper.

Interior: General Arrangement

The principal interest lies in number 33 and the upper floors of numbers 30 to 32. The second floor and attics form four late 18th-century residences, each of three bays on two floors with two-room-deep floor plans. They have 19th-century adaptations with some early 21st-century internal wall replacement and door infills. There are 18th- and 19th-century floorboards throughout, a range of fixtures and fittings, and the attics retain 19th-century timbers (originally ceiled) with supporting 21st-century timbers. The apartment above number 33 is accessed from the shop floor, whilst the three apartments above numbers 30 to 32 are accessed externally via stairs across the early 21st-century rear extensions. The first- and second-floor rooms above the alleyway were not accessible.

Interior: Number 33 (Shop and Residence)

The shop has early 21st-century dropped ceilings, wall cladding, and floor coverings. The ground floor extends through to the adjoining late 18th-century building on Princes Dock Street with staff rooms to the rear of the shop floor, a concrete rear stair in the small 21st-century extension, and an exit for numbers 32 and 33 onto Princes Dock Street (as of 2021).

The rear stair rises to a narrow landing with a western door into a 19th-century floor plan of three rooms. The northern room retains an early 20th-century half-glazed and panelled two-leaf door, and the southern room a wide Edwardian shop window (boarded in 2021) with a 19th-century chimney breast. Further features are concealed by 21st-century panels. Directly north of the stair, behind a 20th-century door, is a 19th-century landing and stair with blocked openings to the left of a chimney breast. The 19th-century double quarter-winder stair with newel posts, square-cut paired balusters, and plank wall panelling rises to a late 18th-century moulded and panelled second-floor stair window and a second-floor landing.

A western 19th-century door architrave (with 20th-century door) enters a central room with a late 18th-century boxed winder attic stair positioned against the west wall (set behind the blind second-floor window looking onto Princes Dock Street). The stair has a 19th-century panelled stair door at the bottom and 19th-century newel posts with balusters and handrail up to the attic. The adjoining north room has an 18th-century door architrave and an infilled fireplace with a blocked door opening to its right (south). To the south of the central room is a short corridor leading into the adjoining extension via one step and a moulded 19th-century architrave with a four-panel door.

The extension (former late 18th-century building) contains a narrow room retaining a 19th-century stone lintel fireplace and a 19th-century plank-panelled cupboard. A second 19th-century door architrave with four-panelled door leads to a larger southern room with a 19th-century fireplace, cupboard, skirting, and infilled doorway.

The attic stud wall partitions remain in situ and contain a 19th-century four-panel door with a re-used 18th-century wooden door lock, three 18th-century plank and batten doors with 18th-century wooden door locks, and an 18th-century six-by-six pane Yorkshire sliding sash. The north side of the attic has a 19th-century metal fire surround and grate.

Interior: Numbers 30-32 (Ground and First Floors)

The shop floors on the ground floors of numbers 30 to 32 have early 21st-century dropped ceilings, wall cladding, and floor coverings. In numbers 30 and 31, the ground floor extends the length of the 21st-century extension with a fire exit to Zebedee's Yard and a stair at the north-east corner. The first floor has an early 21st-century floor plan comprising store-rooms and a corridor with toilets. In number 32, a 21st-century concrete stair is positioned at the rear of the shop behind a wall partition, with a door into the L-shaped late 18th-century extension behind number 33. The first floor has a similar fit-out to numbers 30 to 31.

Interior: Number 32 (Upper Floors)

The principal floor of the two-storey residence is accessed through a 21st-century door from the roof extension. It has 18th-century door architraves throughout. The current hallway (former stairwell) retains an 18th-century boxed winder attic stair with a plank and batten stair door with thin strap hinges (unattached in 2021), plank panelling, a shaped stair skirt-board, round-nosed treads, and a partial 19th-century dog-leg stair (newels, balustrade, and balusters). Beneath the 18th-century stair is an 18th-century plank and batten cupboard door with strap hinges and a wooden door lock. The north room has a blocked 19th-century doorway to the left of a chimney breast in the west wall and an 18th-century two-panel door with butterfly hinges and right-hand skeleton door latch (unattached in 2021). The west room contains an 18th-century fireplace surround.

Interior: Number 31 (Upper Floors)

The floor plan is a mirror copy of number 32 with an 18th-century boxed winder stair, partial 19th-century dog-leg stair, and 18th-century door architraves. The north room retains an 18th-century plank-panelled cupboard with plank and batten door and a Georgian wooden door lock, set within a roll-moulded architrave. The south room has an arched fireplace, and the attic retains the boxed winder stair handrail and an early 18th-century plank and batten door of two wide planks and top and bottom battens (unattached in 2021).

Interior: Number 30 (Upper Floors)

The entrance room retains an 18th-century plank-panelled cupboard with a roll-moulded cupboard door architrave and an arched fireplace with grate and hearthstone. A mid-19th-century wooden single-pane shop door and 18th-century architrave remain (unattached in 2021). The south room has a moulded 18th-century door architrave, and to the right of the chimney breast (with stone hearth) is an 18th-century plank-panelled cupboard with plank and batten door with butterfly hinges set within a roll-moulded door architrave. There is no boxed winder to the attic, which is now accessed through a ceiling hatch and contains a 19th-century four-panel door and two 18th-century blocked windows in the east gable end.