Waverley Chambers, Huddersfield

Waverley Chambers, Huddersfield

Waverley Chambers is a commercial building erected in 1882 by architect W H Crossland, with sculptural work by C E Fucigna. Originally built as a hotel with ground-floor retail units, it has since been used as offices. The building is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a slate roof and comprises three storeys plus basement and attic. It is designed in 19th-century Queen Anne style with Flemish and French Renaissance influences.

The building occupies a corner plot at the junction of Kirkgate and Wood Street, with its principal elevation facing Kirkgate and a narrow yard area to the rear. It is attached to a later building on its western side.

The ground floor is notably the tallest level, with floor heights diminishing above. Paired stringcourses divide the floor levels and run across both main elevations. An eaves cornice crowns the top of the building.

The south elevation facing Kirkgate comprises three bays, with the two right bays being wider than the left bay. The three ground-floor bays are separated by pilaster strips incorporating projecting blocks with vermiculated rustication. These strips are topped by console-supported, panelled pedestals surmounted by decorative carved urns (the upper part of the urn to the far right is missing) and continue as quoin strips on the upper floors. The main entrance is located in the left bay at ground floor level and consists of a large round-arched opening with vermiculated-rustication blockwork and carved spandrels depicting dragons above. A large keystone with a carved cartouche displaying the Arms of the Ramsden family surmounts the arch. Partly-glazed panelled double-doors sit within a partly-glazed screen, with a later plain fanlight above inscribed "WAVERLEY CHAMBERS / 5 / KIRKGATE". The two neighbouring ground-floor bays contain glazed shopfronts that reveal internal mezzanines. Both shops have blank signage fascias to the top and later signage lower down. The left shopfront has a stallriser; the right retains its mullions.

The first and second floors are lit by paired single-pane sash windows. Those to the centre bay have round-arched heads and incorporate carved heads as keystones, depicting Saturn (as an old man), Hercules (wearing a lion's head headdress), Juno (with ears of corn), and possibly Venus (surrounded by flowers and foliage).

Set just above the eaves cornice on the two left bays are two dormer windows with elaborate ashlar frontispieces. The left dormer incorporates two short multipaned, segmental-arched windows lighting the main stair, with blind balustrades in front and decorative console keystones and dentil cornice above. A carved cartouche displaying the date "1882" flanked by scrolled decoration sits atop this dormer. The dormer above the centre bay is attached to the left dormer by flying-buttress style supports surmounted by ram's heads representing the Ramsden family. This dormer has a cross window with a sculptural relief panel above depicting the reclining classical figure of Vulcan, the Roman god of industry, surmounted by a segmental pediment incorporating folds of cloth arranged in a shell shape and dentil decoration. Rising above and behind the left dormer is a French-style pyramidal roof with lucarnes and a lead-covered spirelet surmounted by a decorative weathervane.

The east elevation facing Wood Street is also of three bays and similarly styled to the Kirkgate elevation, with bays separated by pilaster strips and quoin strips. The left bay is wider and occupies half the elevation. The ground floor has a central doorway flanked by two shopfronts. The secondary entrance's door and overlight have been removed and boarded over; the doorway's access steps have also been removed. The two upper floors are lit by single-pane sash windows: the left bay has two sets of paired windows on each floor, the centre bay has single windows, and the right bay has paired windows. Rising above the eaves cornice, which is surmounted by panelled pedestals and decorative urns, are three dormer windows with shaped Flemish-style gables.

The rear elevation faces a narrow yard and is constructed of coursed rock-faced stone with ashlar sills and lintels. Plain sash windows are set to each floor on the right (western) side of the elevation.

Within the main entrance is a stairwell occupying the entire left bay and rising from basement to attic. The stairwell contains a part-cantilevered dog-leg stair with a painted cast-iron balustrade and timber handrail incorporating an integral newel post on the ground floor. The remainder of the interior is plain and has been substantially altered and modernised, including insertion of later partition walls, a modern lift, blocking of openings, and removal of walls to create open, inter-linked spaces. Apart from the main stair, the interior features are not of special architectural or historic interest.