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Leeds Civic Hall

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82-570: Leeds Civic Hall is a municipal building located in the civic quarter of Leeds , West Yorkshire , England . It replaced Leeds Town Hall as the administrative centre in 1933. The Civic Hall houses Leeds City Council offices, council chamber and a banqueting hall, and is a Grade II* listed building . A city landmark, two 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in) high gold-leafed owls top its twin towers, decorations which are joined by four more owls on columns in Millennium Square , which sits to

164-695: A Stone of Remembrance , designed by him. The best known of these monuments are The Cenotaph in Whitehall , Westminster , and the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme , Thiepval . The Cenotaph was originally commissioned by David Lloyd George as a temporary structure to be the centrepiece of the Allied Victory Parade in 1919. Lloyd George proposed a catafalque , a low empty platform, but it

246-501: A Cumbrian or Lakeland green slate roof in Palladian style . The main portico covers two storeys with a pediment supported on six large Corinthian columns . In the centre of the pediment is carved the arms of the city , and in gilded Roman numerals, the dates of the granting of the charter and the completion of the building (1626 and 1933 respectively). The two wings have five storeys. There are two 170 feet (52 m) tall towers in

328-491: A bridge over the River Liffey (unbuilt) and two tiered sunken gardens; Heywood House Gardens , County Laois (open to the public), consisting of a hedge garden, lawns, tiered sunken garden and a belvedere; extensive changes and extensions to Lambay Castle, Lambay Island , near Dublin, consisting of a circular battlement enclosing the restored and extended castle and farm building complex, upgraded cottages and stores near

410-426: A clockwise direction around the city centre. It serves major transport interchanges and both universities as well as the main shopping and financial districts. There have been calls for a second FreeCityBus to serve emerging business, leisure and residential districts in the southern part of central Leeds. Leeds city centre has its main bus station in the east of the city. However, as a rule only buses heading out of

492-464: A detailed and costed scheme submitted as soon as possible, as the government was liable to fall at any time. While in London, they were given a recommendation for the architect E. Vincent Harris , whose Sheffield City Hall was under construction at the time. Harris was able to satisfy them that he could prepare all the necessary drawings and quantities within a matter of weeks as required. However, there

574-515: A half years later. It was completed six months ahead of schedule and opened by King George V and Queen Mary on 23 August 1933, seventy-five years after the king's grandmother had opened the Town Hall. The ceremonial key used to open the Civic Hall was returned from New Zealand on 7 June 1993 after having been missing since 1933. The gardens laid out in front of the Civic Hall once included

656-526: A large campus here. Leeds Dock is the city's southern Cultural Quarter. It is where the Royal Armouries Museum can be found, the building was designed by architect Derek Walker and built at a cost of £42.5 million over two years. The museum has since become one of the city's major tourist attractions. The Financial Quarter is bounded by Park Row to the East, Leeds Inner Ring Road to

738-678: A member of the newly created Royal Fine Art Commission , a position he held until his death. While work continued in New Delhi, Lutyens received other commissions including several commercial buildings in London and the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Washington, D.C. . In 1924 he completed the supervision of the construction of what is perhaps his most popular design: Queen Mary's Dolls' House . This four-storey Palladian villa

820-659: A more conventional Classicism , a change of direction which had a profound influence on wider British architectural practice. His commissions were of a varied nature from private houses to two churches for the new Hampstead Garden Suburb in London to Julius Drewe 's Castle Drogo near Drewsteignton in Devon and on to his contributions to India's new imperial capital , New Delhi (where he worked as chief architect with Herbert Baker and others). Here he added elements of local architectural styles to his classicism, and based his urbanisation scheme on Mughal water gardens. He also designed

902-554: A number of grand Victorian buildings that are important in the civic life of the city. Prominent institutes include Leeds Magistrates' and Crown Courts, Leeds Library , Leeds Art Gallery , Leeds Civic Hall and Leeds Town Hall . The town hall was completed in 1858 and opened by Queen Victoria . Leeds Civic Hall opened in 1933 by King George V and is home to the Lord Mayor's Room and the council chambers. Many barristers ' chambers and solicitors' offices are found here because of

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984-476: A number of projects, including Lindisfarne Castle and the Country Life headquarters building in London, at 8 Tavistock Street . One of his assistants in the 1890s was Maxwell Ayrton . By the turn of the century, Lutyens was recognised as one of architecture's coming men. In his major study of English domestic buildings, Das englische Haus , published in 1904, Hermann Muthesius wrote of Lutyens, "He

1066-562: A place to provide people with disabilities some employment opportunities. Its workshop has had several locations, beginning in a temporary location near Chapeltown Road, then to the old disused Whitbread Brewery site at Kirkstall and from 1993 to the present Seacroft location. Leeds City Council was the only local authority to do this for some years but now a small number have followed Leeds Lights example in preparing their own displays where as most other councils buy in their lights and services. The lights are repaired and pressure cleaned annually at

1148-635: A soldier and painter. His sister, Mary Constance Elphinstone Lutyens (1868–1951), wrote novels under her married name of Mrs George Wemyss. He grew up in Thursley , Surrey. He was named after a friend of his father, the painter and sculptor Edwin Henry Landseer . Lutyens studied architecture at South Kensington School of Art , London, from 1885 to 1887. After college he joined the Ernest George and Harold Peto architectural practice. It

1230-516: A surge of 130,000 people enter its doors on the first day of opening. Costing £350 million, and creating 3,000 jobs, this was a major development for Leeds. It was the only major retail development to open in the UK in 2013. It covers 1,000,000 sq ft (92,900 sq m) with has a capacity for 120 shops and numerous pop-up shops . The Calls is close to the River Aire . The area's decline began in

1312-565: Is The Salutation , a house in Sandwich, Kent, England. Built in 1911–1912 with a 3.7-acre (1.5 ha) garden, it was commissioned by Henry Farrer , one of three sons of Sir William Farrer . Lutyens heavily influenced Sigurd Frosterus when he designed Vanajanlinna Manor in Finland . He was knighted in 1918 and elected a Royal Academician in March 1920. In 1924, he was appointed

1394-887: Is a young man who has come increasingly to the forefront of domestic architects and who may soon become the accepted leader among English builders of houses". The bulk of Lutyens's early work consisted of private houses in an Arts and Crafts style, strongly influenced by Tudor architecture and the vernacular styles of south-east England. This was the most innovative phase of his career. Important works of this period include Munstead Wood, Tigbourne Court , Orchards and Goddards in Surrey , Deanery Garden and Folly Farm in Berkshire, Overstrand Hall in Norfolk and Le Bois des Moutiers in France. After about 1900 this style gave way to

1476-512: Is built on an area of some 330 acres (130 ha) and incorporates a private garden also designed by Lutyens. The building was designed as the official residence of the Viceroy of India and is now the official residence of the President of India . The Delhi Order columns at the front entrance of the palace have bells carved into them, which, it has been suggested, Lutyens had designed with

1558-538: Is roughly bounded by the Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters. The old town is considered the retail core of Leeds, it extends south from buildings on either side of The Headrow to the River Aire . Kirkgate and Briggate are the oldest streets in Leeds, from which the city grew from. Briggate is home to several chain food and shopping chains,

1640-613: Is served by Leeds Bradford Airport . This is situated in Yeadon approximately seven miles north -west of the city centre. The city centre is linked to the airport by the A1 bus service operated by Yorkshire Coastliner . The airport serves major European destinations as well as many further afield. Traffic passing past Leeds city centre is diverted away from the main areas by the Leeds Inner Ring Road , an urban motorway passing

1722-582: Is the city's northern cultural quarter. Centred upon Centenary Square, landmarks include: NHS England's Quarry House; the BBC Yorkshire building, which moved from Woodhouse Lane in August 2004; the Leeds Playhouse , which opened in March 1990; Leeds College of Music , which moved to its current location in 1997; and Northern Ballet which moved to the area in 2010. Leeds City College also has

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1804-629: The Buildings of England series , while noting that; "the genius and the charlatan were very close together in Lutyens". In the introduction to the catalogue for the 1981 Lutyens exhibition at the Hayward Gallery , the architectural writer Colin Amery described Lutyens as "the builder of some of our finest country houses and gardens". In 2015 a memorial to Lutyens by the sculptor Stephen Cox

1886-654: The City of Leeds and National Express services use it. Local First Leeds buses use stops on the city streets, or a number of smaller bus stations, referred to as bus points, at Bond Street, Infirmary Street, Leeds railway station and the Corn Exchange. Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens OM KCIE PRA FRIBA ( / ˈ l ʌ t j ə n z / LUT -yənz ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944 )

1968-525: The Court of St. James's . Between 1915 and 1928, Lutyens also produced designs for a new palace for the Duke of Alba's younger brother, Hernando Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duke of Peñaranda . The palace of El Guadalperal, as it was to be called, would have been, if built, Edwin Lutyens's largest country house. Lutyens married Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964) on 4 August 1897 at Knebworth , Hertfordshire. She

2050-552: The Delhi Order and was used by him for several designs in England, such as Campion Hall, Oxford . Unlike the more traditional British architects who came before him, he was both inspired by and incorporated various features from the local and traditional Indian architecture—something most clearly seen in the great drum-mounted Buddhist dome of Viceroy's House, now Rashtrapati Bhavan . This palatial building, containing 340 rooms,

2132-613: The Hyderabad House for the last Nizam of Hyderabad , as his Delhi palace and planned the layout for the Janpath and Rajpath roads. Before the end of World War I , he was appointed one of three principal architects for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now Commonwealth War Graves Commission ) and was involved with the creation of many monuments to commemorate the dead . Larger cemeteries have

2214-804: The India Gate ; he also designed the Viceroy's House, which is now known as the Rashtrapati Bhavan . Many of his works were inspired by Indian architecture. He was elected Master of the Art Workers' Guild in 1933. Lutyens was born in Kensington , London, the tenth of thirteen children of Mary Theresa Gallwey (1832/33–1906) from Killarney , Ireland, and Captain Charles Augustus Henry Lutyens (1829–1915),

2296-596: The Liria Palace , a neoclassical building which was severely damaged during the Spanish Civil War . The palace was originally built in the 18th century for James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick , and still belongs to his descendants. Lutyens's reconstruction was commissioned by Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba . The Duke had been in contact with Lutyens while serving as the Spanish ambassador to

2378-486: The University of Leeds each have a large campus forming an expansive tri-campus area in the north-east city centre, spanning both sides of the inner ring road and expanding into the areas. In addition to the two university campuses there are also multiple smaller education campuses to the area including Leeds Art University , Notre Dame Sixth Form College , Leeds City College and Blenheim Primary School. Quarry Hill

2460-559: The "youth of Ireland", and it has been a hostel ever since. Largely designed by Lutyens over 20 or so years (1912 to 1930), New Delhi, situated within the metropolis of Delhi , popularly known as ' Lutyens' Delhi ', was chosen to replace Calcutta as the seat of the British Indian government in 1911; the project was completed in 1929 and officially inaugurated in 1931. In undertaking this project, Lutyens invented his own new order of classical architecture, which has become known as

2542-774: The British Raj, Lutyens was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) on 1 January 1930. As a chivalric order, the KCIE knighthood held precedence over his earlier bachelor knighthood . A bust of Lutyens in the former Viceroy's House is the only statue of a Westerner left in its original position in New Delhi. Lutyens's work in New Delhi is the focus of Robert Grant Irving 's book Indian Summer . In spite of his monumental work in India, Lutyens held views on

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2624-606: The Coronation Fountain, erected in 1953 and demolished the following year. A plaque marking the golden jubilee (50th anniversary) of the building was unveiled on 23 August 1983 by Lord Mayor Martin Dodgson. The steps and paving in front of the main entrance were relaid in early 1994, using new blocks and slabs of Portland stone. The building was cleaned in 1994–95. As ambitious as the Town Hall, but not quite as self confident. [...] The lack of four-square self-confidence

2706-593: The East, North and West of the city centre. Much of the Inner Ring Road is in tunnels so not visible to passing pedestrians. All major routes into Leeds head towards the city centre. The city centre is served by the M621 motorway . The most notable bus service within central Leeds is the LeedsCityBus service operated by First Leeds and funded by West Yorkshire Metro . This service runs every few minutes in

2788-624: The Indian traders would participate in "the grand shopping centre for the residents of Shahjahanabad and New Delhi", thus giving rise to the D-shaped market seen today. Many of the garden-ringed villas in the Lutyens' Bungalow Zone (LBZ)—also known as Lutyens' Delhi—that were part of Lutyens's original scheme for New Delhi are under threat due to the constant pressure for development in Delhi. The LBZ

2870-527: The Leeds Lights workshop in Seacroft throughout the year. 80,000 coloured lamps are stored at the workshop, and 2000m of coloured rope light are used. A team of 14 works all year round producing the display. From October–January, a team of 9 works to erect the lights ready for the switch on in early November, before removing the lights after Christmas. Commercial advertising has been permitted on some of

2952-583: The Lord Mayor's Rooms at the Town Hall are used to light this space. The Assembly Hall was 100 feet (30 m) long and oak panelled is across the front of the building, now divided to a banqueting hall and other chambers. There is a parlour for the Lord Mayor at the East end and one for the Lady Mayoress at the West end. The Council Chamber is sunk in three tiers below entrance level, with an elliptical seating arrangement and public galleries at either end of

3034-838: The RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1921, and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1925. In November 2015 the British government announced that all 44 of Lutyens's surviving First World War memorials in Britain had now been listed on the advice of Historic England , and were therefore all protected by law. This involved the one remaining memorial—the Gerrards Cross Memorial Building in Buckinghamshire —being added to

3116-787: The Royal Academy's planning for post-war London, an endeavour dismissed by Osbert Lancaster as "... not unlike what the new Nuremberg might have been had the Führer enjoyed the inestimable advantage of the advice and guidance of the late Sir Aston Webb ". Works in Ireland include the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge in Dublin , which consists of a bridge over the railway and

3198-513: The architecture of the Empire – Hardinge wanted elements of the Indian vernacular for political reasons. An unapologetic spokesman of British imperialism he built the Viceroy's Palace as a symbol of glory of the Raj, and considered Indians to be primitive as yet on the verge of civilization who deserved to be ruled in perpetuity by the British. In Madrid , Lutyens's work can be seen in the interiors of

3280-542: The chamber. To the height of the doors it is panelled in English walnut, and acoustic tiles of artificial stone above. One of the most original features of the building hangs above the Council Chamber: a huge elliptical candelabrum hung by 8 rods and containing 99 electric bulbs. Leeds city centre#Civic-quarter Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds , West Yorkshire , England. It

3362-448: The city centre Other headquarters include Asda and Channel 4 . Each Christmas the streets of Leeds city centre are decorated with a variety of Christmas lights . The widely publicised ‘switch-on' ceremony is in early November, when a celebrity flicks the switch to illuminate the decorations at Victoria Gardens and usually attracts tens-of-thousands of people to the turning on ceremony. When Leeds Lights were first established in 1983,

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3444-417: The close proximity to the courts. The area has a number high-rise residential properties and developments, including Sky Plaza and Opal 3 . Altus House is the tallest building in Yorkshire . Other major institutions are located within the Quarter, including the Yorkshire Bank HQ and also the Merrion Centre . Queen Square is also found here. Leeds General Infirmary , the Leeds Beckett University and

3526-431: The completion of a number of developments. is the name given by local government and planning agencies to a mixed-use urban renewal area south of Leeds railway station . Bridgewater Place and also Granary Wharf are within Holbeck Urban Village . The new High Speed 2 station was due to border this area of Leeds, which is why much of the area is considered prime location for development. Financial Hospitality in

3608-412: The creation of Millennium Square. There are also carved and gilded clocks by Potts & Sons projecting on a bracket from each side of the hall; these have tortoises around the dial. "These were not part of the original brief; they were added by the craftsmen. The workers assured the decision makers that any civic, south facing clocks should include a turtle reference, however small. They asserted that it

3690-411: The deadly correctness of others of the incorrigible classicists of 1930. We have set up over [the Civic Hall] the owls we share with Athens and, for all our difficulties in these harsher days, we feel towards our city that devotion out of which the Greeks built their civic pride and joy. The Civic Hall is on a triangular site at the top of a slope, looking down over what is now Millennium Square, but what

3772-494: The early 20th century when industry moved away from the centre outwards. From 1985 to 1995 Leeds Corporation carried out a major regeneration with a careful conversion of listed building warehouses and new build in sympathetic style for a mixed-use area. Many of the area's old industrial buildings have now been converted into modern flats and commercial buildings. Mediaeval Leeds ended at The Headrow , multiple entertainment venues and municipal buildings were built directly north of

3854-462: The front, and a gilded clock on both sides. Since 1858, the Leeds City Council had met in the Town Hall , but over time, with the growth in local government responsibilities, more and more departments were moved into separate offices. This was inefficient and unsatisfactory, and with the forthcoming enlargement of the number of council seats from sixty-eight to a hundred, the whole question of accommodation had to be considered. A special sub-committee

3936-419: The greatest British architect of the twentieth (or of any other) century". Lutyens played an instrumental role in the construction of New Delhi , which would later on serve as the seat of the Government of India . In recognition of his contribution, New Delhi is also known as " Lutyens' Delhi ". In collaboration with Sir Herbert Baker , he was also the main architect of several monuments in New Delhi such as

4018-420: The harbour, a real tennis court, a large guest house (The White House), a boathouse and a chapel; alterations and extensions to Howth Castle , County Dublin ; the unbuilt Hugh Lane gallery straddling the River Liffey on the site of the Ha'penny Bridge and the unbuilt Hugh Lane Gallery on the west side of St Stephen's Green ; and Costelloe Lodge at Casla (also known as Costelloe), County Galway (that

4100-417: The idea that as the bells were silent the British rule would never come to an end. At one time, more than 2,000 people were required to care for the building and serve the Viceroy's household. The new city contains both the Parliament buildings and government offices (many designed by Herbert Baker) and was built distinctively of the local red sandstone using the traditional Mughal style. When composing

4182-435: The later years of his life, Lutyens suffered with several bouts of pneumonia . In the early 1940s he was diagnosed with cancer . He died on 1 January 1944 and was cremated at East Finchley Crematorium in north London, also known as St Marylebone Crematorium. His ashes were interred in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral , beneath a memorial designed by his friend and fellow architect William Curtis Green . Lutyens received

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4264-461: The lights, such as The Headrow's champagne bottle lights. Celebrities who turned on the Leeds Christmas lights: Leeds city centre is served by Leeds railway station . The station is one of 20 in Great Britain to be managed by Network Rail . It is the busiest English station outside London, and the UK's second busiest station outside London after Glasgow Central . The station serves national, regional and suburban railway services. The city centre

4346-414: The list, plus a further fourteen having their statuses upgraded. For the Imperial Tobacco Company 's First World War memorial, installed in 1921 at its Bedminster Head Office, this protection arrived too late to prevent its destruction following the company's take-over in 1986 by Hanson Trust plc . The architectural critic Ian Nairn wrote of Lutyen's Surrey "masterpieces" in the 1971 Surrey volume of

4428-404: The narrower shopping areas of the city. The area's entertainment venues are Leeds Arena , are Leeds Academy , Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House . Millennium Square anchored by the civic hall was a flagship project to mark the year 2000. It hosts regular concerts, with past performers including the Kaiser Chiefs , Bridewell Taxis , HARD-Fi , Fall Out Boy and Embrace . It is home to

4510-405: The peoples of the Indian sub-continent which would now be considered racist, although they were common at the time among many of his contemporaries. He thought the Indian Indo-Saracenic style was "formless, not of carved decoration, an anathema...hardly qualified as architecture at all." Endless battles were fought between him and Viceroy Hardinge over architectural style: Lutyens wanted classical,

4592-404: The plans for New Delhi, Lutyens planned for the new city to lie southwest of the walled city of Shahjahanbad . His plans for the city also laid out the street plan for New Delhi consisting of wide tree-lined avenues. Built in the spirit of British colonial rule, the place where the new imperial city and the older native settlement met was intended to be a market. It was there that Lutyens imagined

4674-508: The portico each have a pair of ornate wrought-iron gates by J. Wippell, London. There is a golden owl on top of each tower by John Hodge, who also carved the coat of arms in the pediment. Each is cast in bronze, covered in gold leaf, is 7 feet 6 inches (2.29 m) tall and weighs half a ton. The owl comes from the city seal , itself from the coat of arms of the first Alderman, Sir John Savile . A further 4 owls by City Architect John Thorp were erected on square columns in 2000 as part of

4756-461: The style of Christopher Wren and similar to the spire of the church of St Vedast by Nicholas Hawksmoor . Harris's first design proposed shorter, domed towers. A partially enclosed courtyard at the north side is the site of a single fir tree and the Councillors' private entrance. It is the only part of the site to use a local material, being paved with Yorkstone setts. Exterior decoration is minimal but finely-crafted. The three entrance doors inside

4838-399: The switch on was held on the 4th Thursday of November, however it has since been brought forward. The illuminations are renowned as being the largest display in the United Kingdom, spanning over 13 miles of city centre streets and using over 2 million low energy light bulbs. Leeds is notable for designing, manufacturing and maintaining its own Christmas Light motifs. Its workshop began as

4920-452: The time because of the use of white Portland stone contrasting with the then soot-blackened Town Hall. Construction work began in September 1930, only slightly more than three months after the building's approval from the special sub-committee. This was a very rapid development compared to the Town Hall, which took three years between agreement for the hall in July 1850 and the laying of its foundation stone in August 1853. The building contract

5002-531: The towers while council departmental office spaces and committee rooms occupy the wings. Bespoke Wilton carpets cover the floors throughout. The 90 feet (27 m) entrance hall is lined with grey gritstone and green scagliola columns. The main staircase has stained glass windows by George Kruger Gray and at the top a bust of King George V by Sir William Reid Dick . This leads to a 90 feet (27 m) long reception hall with three saucer domed ceilings, also by Gray. The three surviving 19th century chandeliers from

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5084-427: The unemployed. The final cost was £360,000, the equivalent of £17 million in 2018. The expanded city council was elected in November 1930, and met for its first three occasions at the Great Hall of the University of Leeds . Problems with acoustics in this venue meant that, following alterations to reduce the size of the public gallery, it returned to the Town Hall council chamber until the Civic Hall's opening two and

5166-429: The west of the city. The Wellington Place development and the wider Wellington Gardens area of the city contain a number of international corporations. Wellington Place is currently under construction. Historically, Holbeck Urban Village was Holbeck 's closest area to the centre of Leeds . Due to the expansion of the city, it is now considered part of the city centre and was rezoned as Holbeck Urban Village , following

5248-444: The west, The Headrow to the north and Wellington Street to the south. It is centred on the Georgian Park Square , one of the green spaces in Leeds city centre. The City Centre Loop passes through the quarter, using City Square , Quebec Street, King Street and East Parade. Leeds Law School is at Cloth Hall Court. Major names can be found in the financial quarter such as Aviva and The Bank of England . The district has grown out towards

5330-538: Was Lutyens's idea for the taller monument. The design took less than six hours to complete. Lutyens also designed many other war memorials, and others are based on or inspired by Lutyens's designs. Examples of Lutyens's other war memorials include the War Memorial Gardens in Dublin, the Tower Hill memorial , the Manchester Cenotaph and the Arch of Remembrance memorial in Leicester. Lutyens also refurbished Lindisfarne Castle for its wealthy owner. One of Lutyens's smaller works, but considered one of his masterpieces,

5412-406: Was Sir Frederick Gibberd . In 1945, a year after his death, A Plan for the City & County of Kingston upon Hull was published. Lutyens worked on the plan with Sir Patrick Abercrombie and they are credited as its co-authors. Abercrombie's introduction in the plan makes special reference to Lutyens's contribution. The plan was, however, rejected by Hull City Council . He was also involved in

5494-443: Was a tradition which linked back to ancient Greece where turtles were often used to symbolise and, for a short period, measure time. The truth was more prosaic. Tortoise was the nickname of their apprentice, who not only worked slowly but had no neck." In contrast with the plain exterior, the grand and decorous interior uses much more colour. The marble-lined halls and official rooms are in the building's central part stretching between

5576-456: Was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses , war memorials and public buildings. In his biography, the writer Christopher Hussey wrote, "In his lifetime (Lutyens) was widely held to be our greatest architect since Wren if not, as many maintained, his superior". The architectural historian Gavin Stamp described him as "surely

5658-405: Was awarded to Armitage & Hodgson of Leeds, which had carried out many important constructional contracts in the city, including the university and the Devonshire Hall . 90% of the workforce were unemployed locals - the council were successful in applying for the government's Unemployed Grants Committee funds - who worked in different teams for set periods of time in order to spread the work among

5740-547: Was built in 1/12 scale and is now a permanent exhibit in the public area of Windsor Castle . It was not conceived or built as a plaything for children; its goal was to exhibit the finest British craftsmanship of the period. Lutyens was commissioned in 1929 to design a new Roman Catholic cathedral in Liverpool . He planned a vast building of brick and granite, topped with towers and a 510-foot (160 m) dome, with commissioned sculpture work by Charles Sargeant Jagger and W. C. H. King . Work on this building started in 1933, but

5822-446: Was disapproval when the rest of the council learned of the appointment of a London architect, and the scheme hit a hitch when Harris insisted he would only design a building on a higher site than the Town Hall, rather than the council's preferred site on Headrow . A site between Portland Crescent and the General Infirmary on Calverley Street was agreed, the new hall to take the place of a block known as St James Square. Controversy arose at

5904-503: Was established in 1929, and it was eventually decided that an entirely new building was required. Due to the economic climate , it was pursued as a Keynesian project to provide work for labourers. Unemployment in Leeds was very high during the Depression, reaching 17% in 1930 and 21% in 1931. In mid-1930, two council aldermen approached the government to receive funding from the unemployed relief works programme, and were advised to get

5986-686: Was fully pedestrianised in 1996 and connected the two previously pedestrian areas either side of it. The old town can be further subdivided into several areas: the city square; the Victorian arcades (such as the Grand Arcade , Thornton's Arcade and the County Arcade); department stores and indoor shopping centres of The Headrow (such as The Light and St John's Centre ), The Calls' markets ( Corn Exchange and Leeds Kirkgate Market ). Opened 21 March 2013, Trinity Leeds shopping centre had

6068-532: Was halted during World War II . After the war, the project ended due to a shortage of funding, with only the crypt completed. A model of Lutyens's unrealised building was given to and restored by the Walker Art Gallery in 1975 and is now on display in the Museum of Liverpool . The architect of the present Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral , which was built over part of the crypt and consecrated in 1967,

6150-411: Was here that he first met Sir Herbert Baker . For many years he worked from offices at 29 Bloomsbury Square , London. He began his own practice in 1888, his first commission being a private house at Crooksbury, Farnham, Surrey . During this work, he met the garden designer and horticulturalist Gertrude Jekyll . In 1896 he began work on a house for Jekyll at Munstead Wood near Godalming , Surrey. It

6232-423: Was in contrast to the formal bedding schemes favoured by the previous generation in the 19th century. This "natural" style was to define the "English garden" until modern times. Lutyens's fame grew largely through the popularity of the new lifestyle magazine Country Life created by Edward Hudson , which featured many of his house designs. Hudson was a great admirer of Lutyens's style and commissioned Lutyens for

6314-541: Was no doubt unavoidable. 1933 could no longer use the classical or the Baroque idiom with anything like the robust conviction of the Victorians. England in its official architecture clung to the mood of grandeur, but the bottom had fallen out of it. Yet the towers by their very thinness and duplication impress from a distance, and the oddities of detail – oddities imitated from Lutyens – are at least more acceptable than

6396-462: Was originally an ornamental garden and fountain. It has a symmetrical front, but is in the form of a truncated V where the west wing is longer than the east one. The building abandons the traditional materials of Yorkshire stone or brick to use Portland stone , which important buildings constructed in Leeds between the wars had all used – the Queens Hotel or the University , for example. It has

6478-607: Was placed on the 2002 World Monuments Fund Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites. None of the bungalows in the LBZ were designed by Lutyens—he only designed the four bungalows in the Presidential Estate surrounding Rashtrapati Bhavan at Willingdon Crescent, now known as Mother Teresa Crescent. Other buildings in Delhi that Lutyens designed include Baroda House , Bikaner House , Hyderabad House , and Patiala House . In recognition of his architectural accomplishments for

6560-418: Was the beginning of a professional partnership that would define the look of many Lutyens country houses. The "Lutyens–Jekyll" garden had hardy shrubbery and herbaceous plantings within a structural architecture of stairs and balustraded terraces. This combined style, of the formal with the informal, exemplified by brick paths, herbaceous borders, and with plants such as lilies, lupins, delphiniums and lavender,

6642-469: Was third daughter of Edith (née Villiers) and the 1st Earl of Lytton , a former Viceroy of India . Lady Emily had proposed to Lutyens two years before the wedding, and her parents disapproved of the marriage. Their marriage was largely unsatisfactory, practically from the start, with Lady Emily developing interests in theosophy , Eastern religions, and being drawn both emotionally and philosophically to Jiddu Krishnamurti . They had five children: During

6724-707: Was used for refuge by J. Bruce Ismay , the Chairman of the White Star Line , following the sinking of the RMS Titanic ). In 1907, Lutyens designed Tranarossan House , located just north of Downings on the Rosguill Peninsula on the north coast of County Donegal . The house was built of local granite for Mr and Mrs Phillimore, from London, as a holiday home. In 1937, Mrs Phillimore donated it to An Óige (Irish Youth Hostels Association) for

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