Guildhall

City guildhall, civic offices, and law courts built 1906–1914. Designed by Sir Edwin Cooper of Russell, Cooper & Davis, who won the commission in a competition assessed by John Belcher. The building was constructed in two stages, starting with the law courts, by the local firm Quibell, Son & Green of Hull. It was restored in 1948 following wartime damage and is regarded as a major work by Cooper.

The building is constructed in ashlar with rustication, a granite plinth, and slate roofs with numerous coped stacks. The main elevations feature a modillion cornice and balustrade. The architectural style is Baroque Revival, described by Pevsner as a tour de force both inside and out.

The Guildhall occupies a narrow, tapering island site measuring nine by 33 bays. It presents two principal fronts: the main entrance faces east towards Low Gate and the much larger Law Courts front faces south towards Alfred Gelder Street. The rear elevation to the north, facing Hanover Square, is utilitarian. The Guildhall sits crosswise at the narrow east end, with a plain block of civic offices between it and the Law Courts, which run lengthwise across most of the site.

The entrance front features a pedimented central portico with paired columns and three windows, set above a basement with three doorways. Above this rises a square clock tower with an arcaded bell stage and stone lantern. The clock was made by Cooke & Johnson for the former town hall built in 1865 and has been restored by David Stipetic. The lantern is surmounted by four putti supporting a stone cup into which a time ball falls—no longer operational. On each side are symmetrical three-storey wings with three windows. The returns have single round-arched windows, the left one beneath a portico. The basements contain five windows. The recessed office range, three storeys high, displays three windows set in rusticated panels and a basement with three triple windows. The Law Courts present a symmetrical front with projecting centre and end bays topped with massive sculpture groups by A H Hodge. The central entrance bay has a giant arch with paired flanking columns and substantial sculpture above the basement door. The flanking ranges, three storeys and 15 bays, feature giant columns and pedimented lower windows. The basement has three round-arched doorways. Attics contain box dormers. Ornate cast-iron gates to the entrances of the former Police, County and Sessions Courts were made by Nelson E Dawson.

The interior layout reflects the exterior arrangement. The Guildhall, two storeys, contains a spinal corridor flanked by offices, leading to a crosswise passage and stairwell. An elaborate marble double staircase ascends to a square reception room and a full-width banqueting hall. The reception room has a coffered ceiling with central skylight. The banqueting hall features half-panelling and a segmental vault with skylight, with a round-arched window at each end. The office block contains the council chamber at its centre, accessed via barrel-vaulted corridors and flanked by the civic suite. The council chamber displays an elaborate coffered dome and cross vaults, retaining original panelling and fitted furnishings. Three murals painted by Harry Watson from Scarborough decorate three of the arches. The civic suite comprises two panelled reception rooms with coffered ceilings in Renaissance Revival style.

The Law Courts feature a lengthwise segment-arched tiled lobby serving the Stipendiary Magistrates' Court. This court and the former Sessions Court retain barrel vaults with domed skylights and original panelling and furnishings. Four smaller courts, subdivided and altered around 1960, have similar furnishings. A panelled Magistrates' room matches the style of the civic suite.

The clock tower's upper stages were redesigned by Cooper in 1914–1915 to incorporate a time ball. This electric time ball, costing £75, was installed by Alexander Shaw of Story Street, Hull. The device was likely not commissioned immediately due to the First World War. By early 1921, the time ball concept faced criticism over maintenance costs and the annual Post Office fee for the electric signal from Greenwich. The device may have operated briefly between 1921 and 1922, but the Post Office contract was cancelled and the motor removed in late 1922. In the late 20th century, the gilded time ball was replaced in fibreglass following storm damage. In 2018, a National Lottery grant was secured to restore the time ball to working order.