Peel Square

Dated 1860, Peel Square is not a square but a terrace of town houses arranged in a shallow half-H shape, with a carriage drive in front. It is located to the rear of Hallfield Road, adjacent to Apsley Crescent and the earlier Hanover and Southfield Squares, and represents a more formal approach to urban planning in Bradford during this period. The terrace may have been designed by Andrews and Delauney. The main range curves back sharply to form “wings” on either side, comprising numbers 30 to 34 and 56 to 60. The two-storey buildings are constructed from sandstone "brick" with ashlar dressings and feature slightly Italianate detailing. Elements include a plinth, plat band, ashlar frieze, eaves cornice, and a Welsh slate roof with hipped sections over the "wings," all topped with corniced chimneys. Numbers 42 to 48 project slightly from the main range, with a further shallow projection containing numbers 44 and 46. A pediment sits above this central section, incorporating a blocking course, a carved wreath with a crown, name, and date. Each house has two bays on its front. Shallow-revealed sash windows extend down below the sills to the plat band and plinth, creating an apron effect. The two central windows above the paired doorways of numbers 44 and 46 are set within raised ashlar panels. Console brackets support the cornices above the entrances. Some doorways retain original four-panel doors with roundheaded upper panels and reeded doorheads, radial glazed fanlights, and archivolt arches with keystones. Flanking strips with consoles rise to broken entablatures and cornices over the doorways. The entrances to numbers 34 and 56 follow the concave curve of the return to the "wings." The end houses present a three-window symmetrical front to the road, with the outer window bays projecting slightly.