Piece Hall, Halifax

[poliphilo]

Halifax's Piece Hall is the only cloth hall in England. it was opened in 1779 as a place for the Yorkshire wool merchants to do business. Now it houses museums and shops.  It occupies a site of several acres. There's a huge cobbled quadrangle  in the middle. In 1972 it was saved from demolition by a single vote in council. Can you imagine that? These days it would be unthinkable to tear down something like this. The 1970s really were a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

Comments

[aellia.livejournal.com]

Ah the glory days of the wool industry.
We've just had the prices for this years wool. The lowest for 30 years and not even enough to cover the cost of shearing them.
In other news,our garrison town is no longer. All the soldiers have gone and they are turning the barracks into a prison. Dover needs this like a hole in the head.
Sorry I ranted there

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

How are you guys supposed to make a living if it costs more to produce the goods than you get for them in the market?

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the 1970s were the among the worst periods for architecture and urbanism. People were trying to show they were "looking to the future" without realizing that... well... no one knows of a future that lacks a past.

What is the building now?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a sort of cultural complex. There's an art gallery and museum and lots of little shops. It also hosts concerts and open air theatre etc etc...

A really nice place to go spend a Sunday afternoon.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. It would make a pretty terrible apartment complex (too regular and impersonal) but the regularity and expansive space benefits an art gallery and other introspective uses.

This sort of factory architecture tends to remind me of Persian mosques (here, the Friday Mosque at Isfahan).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I see what you mean. The arches. The courtyard.

It's not exactly a beautiful building, but it gifts Halifax with a really amazing urban space.

The setting helps. The hills behind. And the Victorian church spire gives it a much needed vertical accent.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

That's fabulous: I'm surprised they came so close to pulling it down, even in the 1970s.

Great picture, too - I love the way the foreground vertical echoes the spire. I've missed your photos...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I got bored with photography. All my pictures seemed to be coming out the same. I felt I was repeating myself.

But the Piece Hall was too good a subject to miss.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I've missed your photos...

Seconded!

That's a splendid photo of a splendid building.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

I've been resting the camera. Mainly because I felt I was repeating myself. Same subjects, same sort of compositions. But the Piece Hall was just too photogenic to resist.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

It looks cathedral like. What an interesting commentry on Victorian bourgeois values and their sprituality.

[kaysho.livejournal.com]

Modern architecture = if it's old, tear it down.

Post-modern architecture = build something new, but make it look old.

Post-post-modern architecture = never build anything new? :)

[liseuse.livejournal.com]

Oh I love Piece Hall. We used to go every couple of weeks when I was little. Is the wondiferous doughnut shop still there? It's a shame, I live in York now and haven't been in years.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I didn't come across a doughnut shop, but we didn't have time to visit every single unit, so it might still be there.