Deposited Plan No. 686
Victoria Lane: The Albert Hotel (Rebuilding)
Details
Deposited Plan Number: | 686 |
Date: | 1879 |
Plans Register: | 1869 - 1886 |
Street: | Victoria Lane |
Property Name / Number: | The Albert Hotel |
Area: | Town Centre |
District: | Kirklees |
Town: | Huddersfield |
Grid Reference: | SE 1451 1648 |
Building Project: | The Albert Hotel (Rebuilding) |
Type: | Hotel / Licensed Premises |
Applicant: | Armitage Bros. |
Applicant Address: | no data |
Architect: | Edward Hughes |
Architect Address: | Lord Street, Huddersfield (1871 - 1884) |
Status of Project: | Approved |
Contractor: | no data |
Contractor Address: | no data |
Work Commenced: | 14 September 1878 (plans approved) |
Work Completed: | 1879 (opened) |
Occupants: | Armitage Brothers |
Subsequent Alterations / History: | Existing |
English Heritage Listing: | no data |
Location of Archives: | Kirklees West Yorkshire Archives |
Buildings of Huddersfield ID: | 4035 |
Additional Information
The work of Edward Hughes, who was in practice in Huddersfield between 1871 and 1884, Construction date: 1879 at a cost of £3000. Initially owned by the Armitage brothers. It replaced an earlier Albert Hotel opened in 1853 which became a warehouse. Adjacent listed buildings are the Town Hall, Library and Art Gallery and the Market Hall (the latter two recently listed).
The hotel is a 4-storey building on a corner site with a narrow main elevation to Victoria Lane and a longer elevation to Albert Yard. To quote 'The Buildings Of Huddersfield' by Keith Gibson and Albert Booth (Tempus, 2005):
The Albert Hotel is an apparently plain and simple building on a narrow corner plot with mullioned and transomed windows, but it achieves that simplicity through a highly complex piece of design on the upper floors above the corner doorway of the building and by a markedly asymmetric detailed design. It is very difficult to describe the multiple planes of the multifaceted stonework above the corner door where two deeply inset panels create the illusion of a bay window to the canted stonework and windows between. Above this, at eaves level, is a cornice on stone brackets that continues under a dormer window on the Victoria Lane frontage, bur stops short of the larger gable around the corner. The corner of the building is again emphasised by an open stone balustrade parapet detail only above the corner. That includes a substantial and ornate corbelled bracket at the right hand side, but no similar detail on the left.
That asymmetry is further emphasised by a winged figure holding a shield sitting on top of the parapet above the corbelled bracket - presumably not Albert.
The interior has wood and stained glass partitions and a large marble-topped semi-circular mahogany and etched glass panelled bar which dominates the split-level bar.
The hotel has always played a rich part in the political, social, cultural and sporting life of the town. The Huddersfield Town football club was founded there on 26 June 1908 and in 1920 it was the HQ of the Retention Committee which successfully fought off a move to transfer the club to Leeds.
There have been some notable licensees. William Hardcastle who was licensee in 1908 was instrumental in the establishment of Huddersfield Town football club and later became its chairman. He was also a town councillor. In 1931 Thomas Moran began a family association with the Albert which lasted 54 years and was its longest serving licensee. He had been awarded the MC in the First World War and was a town councillor for many years. When he died in 1956 he was succeeded by his widow Mary who in turn was succeeded in 1962 by her son John who retired in 1985. He was a magistrate, an unusual appointment for a licensee and one which reflected his high standing in the town.
(Extract from http://www.huddersfieldcivicsociety.org.uk/projects.html)
Also see record for plan No 673 (15 August 1878)
Original plans for rebuilding the Albert Hotel were disapproved by the Borough Surveyor's department.
The second application, plan No 686 (14 September 1878) was approved.