Victoria Hall

Victoria Hall is a public hall incorporating swimming baths, a library, and a council chamber, built between 1888 and 1891 by T. H. and F. Healey of Bradford. It is constructed of ashlar with a Westmorland slate roof and features a basement. The asymmetrical but ordered facade is in a well-detailed ‘Queen Anne’ style, comprising three major blocks plus a single bay set back to the right. The central block projects and has a portico rising four steps, supported by paired Ionic columns and topped with an entablature and balustraded parapet. The round-arched entrance is fitted with double panelled doors, a fanlight, a moulded architrave, and carved foliage to the spandrels. Above the entrance is a tall square tower with pilaster strips, a deep frieze incorporating festoons and carved panels, a dentilled cornice, and an undulating parapet with set-back corner pinnacles. An octagonal lantern sits above the tower, with mullioned and transomed windows, a dome, and a tall finial. Basement light-wells with arcaded balustrades are present on either side. The left block has three bays, featuring a large central mullioned and transomed bay window on the ground floor, with the lower half of the central light round-headed. Above the window is a high parapet incorporating an elaborate shield and stag's head motif. Elaborate cartouches depicting themes of work and culture are located to either side of the window. The central first-floor window is of eight lights, mullioned and transomed with a semicircular head, rising above eaves level as a pedimented dormer. A pavilion roof surmounts the left block. The right block features a similar six-light window to the first floor. Further to the right, the set-back bay is plainer but has an elaborate doorway set into the angle. The left elevation has large cross-windows at first-floor level, illuminating the main hall.

Inside, the entrance hall has doorways with coloured leaded glass, a stone staircase with moulded soffits and an iron balustrade, and a stained glass stair window. The main hall contains a panelled dado, a stage, a raking gallery, and two cast-iron columns.