The Civic Hall, including 44a, 46, 48, 52, 54 and 56 Eldon Street

The Civic Hall is a late-19th-century civic building now serving as an arts venue, theatre and gallery. It was built in 1876-1877 to designs by Hill and Swann of Leeds, funded by public subscription and a mortgage held by Charles Harvey, a local Quaker philanthropist and linen manufacturer. The building underwent alterations in 1890-1891 by Cox and Marmon of Liverpool working with J Henry Taylor, Barnsley's borough surveyor, after its acquisition by Barnsley Corporation. Further alterations followed in 1902, 1915 and 1933, with a refurbishment in 1962. Extensive alterations and extensions carried out between 2006-2009 by Allen Tod Architecture and Bond Bryan Architects are excluded from the listing.

Materials and Construction

The original building has a front elevation of Matlock stone ashlar, side elevations of coursed local stone and brick, and a Welsh slate roof.

Plan and Layout

The building comprises a four-storey and basement front range with ground-floor shops flanking a central main entrance. This entrance opens into a broad lobby to the rear with a staircase (formerly two mirrored staircases) ascending to two upper floors of offices and a top-floor former school of art. To the rear, the original double-height hall and ground-floor library area beneath have been substantially altered by the insertion of three concrete floors during the 2006-2009 works. These floors are not of special interest. The building now has a hall on the top floor containing a stage within the body of the hall, with two lower floors presently used for storage. North and west extensions dating from 2006-2009 are excluded from the listing.

Front Elevation

The symmetrical front elevation faces east onto Eldon Street and is designed in a late Elizabethan classical style. The ashlar stone facade rises through four storeys across seven bays. The first floor is finished with a dentilled cornice, while the second floor has a heavy, modillioned moulded eaves cornice surmounted by a richly and heavily treated attic storey.

The outer corners and central entrance are defined by pilasters with swagged capitals on each floor. At ground-floor level these pilasters have banded rustication; at first-floor level they contain round-headed niches with shells to the heads; at second-floor level they have fielded panels.

The central two-storey, round-arched entrance is elaborately detailed with shaped jambs featuring horizontal banding and fielded panels with foliate capitals. A swagged frieze and dentilled entablature mark the springing of the arch, which frames elaborately panelled double doors. Above these is a semi-circular overlight with a moulded archivolt decorated with fielded panels and foliate motifs, fielded panels to the soffit, and a giant keystone featuring a figure-head of Charles Harvey in a cartouche. The spandrels contain well-carved figures representing Art and Science. The canopy in front of the entrance is a 2006-2009 recreation of an earlier canopy dating from around 1900.

The ground floor has early-21st-century shop frontages with continuous flat fascias, panelled stall risers and pilasters. The first-floor windows are round-arched with pilaster jambs, balustrade supporting sills bands and archivolts with giant keystones; those in bays two and six are arranged in triple groups. The second-floor windows follow a similar pattern, with triple groups in bays two, four (above the entrance) and six. These triple groups have small balustraded balconies to the central lights with corner piers supporting urns. The frieze above the central triple group bears the raised lettering "PUBLIC HALL 1877".

Above the modillion eaves cornice, the attic storey features eight circular dormer windows with segmental pediments alternating with ball finials. The four pilasters are surmounted by square round-arched turrets with finials, those to the centre bay being particularly elaborate and flanking a two-light round-arched dormer with a circle in the head, a triangular pediment and finials.

Side Elevations

The south gable wall of the front range is blind, constructed of coursed, rock-faced stone blocks, with the ground and first floors obscured by the adjoining building. Set back from this is the south side wall of the hall, also of coursed, rock-faced stone, with a modillion eaves cornice and a hipped slate roof. The upper floor has a row of nine round-headed windows with ashlar sills, heads and an impost band. At ground-floor level are square-headed windows (some altered or blocked) with ashlar sills and shaped ashlar lintels. The window frames are multi-pane sashes with margin light glazing. At the right-hand, east end, set against the front range return, is a modern external metal staircase that is not of special interest. The left-hand, west bay projects slightly with a rendered top storey forming part of the top floor of a modern west extension block; this extension block is excluded from the listing.

The north return wall of the front range is mostly obscured by the adjoining building. To the right of the rear of that building, two four-storey bays are visible in coursed, rock-faced stone blocks. The wall has been altered and retains a fragment of a segmental-arched opening and a blocked window with ashlar sill and shaped lintel, now accompanied by two modern doorways and a vertical row of three square-headed windows. To the right, a modern full-height stair tower projects with a four-storey extension (excluded from the listing) beyond, covering the full length of the original north side wall of the hall. The modillion eaves cornice of the hall elevation is visible above the flat roof of the extension, with a tall stone stack featuring a modillion eaves cornice and a slated pyramidal cap at the west end. Inside the extension, the original exterior wall of the hall has similar upper-floor round-headed windows and ground-floor square-headed windows with ashlar sills and shaped lintels (some now altered). At the right-hand end is the modern west extension, which is excluded from the listing.

Interior: Front Range

The front range has a central main entrance with a small entrance lobby and a vestibule corridor originally leading through to a broad vestibule to the rear (presently blocked off as of 2022). The entrance lobby and original archway to the rear vestibule feature paired round-headed arches, with a single round-headed arch to the corridor between, all with pilasters, moulded capitals and fielded panel soffits. The heads of the entrance lobby and corridor arches contain multi-pane glazing. The three ceilings between the arches have moulded cornices and elaborate ceiling roses. The floor is finished with decorative black and white mosaic dating from 1912-1913. The former shops to each side have been opened up and retain no original fixtures or fittings of interest. The basement cellars beneath the shops have a stone front wall with brick inner walls and brick jack arches.

The rear vestibule is subdivided into two spaces with moulded cornices and ceiling roses and two round-headed arches to the outer side walls. The southern vestibule has encaustic floor tiles (beneath carpet) and a dogleg staircase with an encaustic-tiled half landing (beneath carpet) rising against the cross wall dividing the front range from the hall to the rear. The return flight up to the first floor retains the original turned timber newel posts with ball finials, turned balusters and a moulded mahogany handrail. Brass studs were installed on the handrail after a boy from the School of Art was seriously injured sliding down the handrail in May 1890. The upper flights of steps up to the top floor are modern replacements with glazed balustrading. The opposing staircase in the northern vestibule has been boxed-in; the stairwell between the second and third floors contains a modern staircase.

The top floor, which served as the former School of Art, has a roof with collared open trusses and wheel motifs in some of the apexes.

Interior: Hall

The present hall occupies the level of the former horseshoe gallery. It retains a trabeated ceiling with decorative ceiling roses and a complex moulded and dentilated cornice ringing the ceiling with guilloche plasterwork tied at the corners and centres with ribbons and flowers. The long sides have deep coves with pointed-top apertures for the inset windows. The two lower floors in the hall have concrete floors and a modern metalwork frame of posts and beams; these elements are not of special interest. Original fixtures and fittings have been stripped out. The hall roof structure has queen-post trusses with raking struts. A number of collars support timbers with circular frames originally for ridge ventilators.

The west end of the hall incorporates the former stage area and flanking stair wells, and the original stone walls and blocked apertures are visible in places. The original round-arched central entrance remains with a moulded ashlar architrave. The south-west stair well contains a modern metal staircase that is not of special interest.