Cuthbert Brodrick

Cuthbert Brodick
Born	1821 Kingston upon Hull
Died	1905 Jersey, Channel Islands
Nationality	British
Work
Buildings	Leeds Town Hall, Grand Hotel, Scarborough

Cuthbert Brodrick FRIBA (1 December 1821 – 2 March 1905) was a British architect, whose most famous building is Leeds Town Hall.

Leeds Town Hall

Leeds Corn Exchange

Leeds City Mechanics Institute, now Leeds City Museum

Early life

Brodrick was born in the Yorkshire port of Hull where his father was a well-to-do merchant and shipowner. Cuthbert was the sixth son of the ten children of John and Hannah Brodrick. The family lived at 39, George Street, in the best residential area of Hull.

Education and training

Brodrick attended Kingston College in Hull and, on leaving school, he became an articled pupil (a student of architecture) in the offices of Henry Francis Lockwood whose premises were at 8, Dock Street. Brodrick stayed with Lockwoods from 1837 until he embarked on the Grand Tour of Europe in May 1844, to continue his studies. He travelled through France and Italy, as far as Rome. Whilst on this journey he studied the architecture of Second Empire in Paris. This style greatly influenced his later designs.^[1]

When Brodrick returned to Hull in 1846, he was offered a partnership in Lockwood’s firm. He refused this, and set up in practice on his own at 1, Savile Street in Hull. He designed a number of local buildings in Hull including the Hull Royal Institution building and the Hull Town Hall.

Leeds

In 1852, at the age of only 29, Brodrick entered and won the competition, judged by Charles Barry, for the design of Leeds Town Hall. This, his most famous building, was opened in September 1858 by Queen Victoria. Subsequently, Brodrick moved to an office at 30, Park Row, Leeds and acquired the nickname 'Town Hall, Leeds.' The iconic clock tower, which serves for many as a symbol of Leeds, was not part of Brodrick's initial design but he added it later when the civic leaders of Leeds sought to make an even grander architectural statement.

His other important buildings in Leeds were the Leeds Corn Exchange (1860-3) and the Mechanics' Institute (1860-5). The latter building later became the Civic Theatre and in September 2008 became the new home of the Leeds City Museum. He permanently altered the way central Leeds looked with just three buildings.

Buildings in Leeds designed by Brodrick

• The Town Hall, 1858
• The Corn Exchange, 1860
• The Mechanics Institute, 1860 (later Civic Theatre and now Leeds City Museum)
• The Oriental Baths in Cookridge Street, 1866 (demolished)
• King Street Warehouses, 1862 (demolished)
• Headingley Hill Congregational church, 1864 (now known as the Ashwood Centre and used by City Church Leeds)^[2]

And on a smaller scale

• Moorland Terrace, 1859 (demolished)
• 7 Alma Road, 1859
• 49-51 Cookridge Street, 1864

Other works

Scarborough Grand Hotel

Brodrick also designed the Grand Hotel, Scarborough.^{[3] [4]}

He submitted unsuccessful architectural designs for the competitions for the building of Preston Town Hall, and the Exchange in Manchester.

Personal life

In 1870, Brodrick went to live in France, and in 1876 bought a house at Le Vésinet, St. Germain-en-Laye. He retired in 1875, and spent his time painting, exhibiting his work and gardening. In about 1898 he went to live with his niece in Jersey, where he rented a house, La Colline, at Gorey. Whilst living there he designed, and planted a garden.^[5] He died there on 2 March 1905, and is buried in St. Martin's Churchyard. ^[6]

Legacy

A Wetherspoons pub called the 'Cuthbert Brodrick' opened on Millennium Square in Leeds on 22 October 2007, situated opposite one of the buildings he designed (the Leeds City Museum) and not far from another (Leeds Town Hall).^[7] In addition, the pub is near the site on Cookridge Street of the Oriental Baths which were designed by Brodrick; they were built in 1866 and demolished in 1969.^[8] His nephew was F. S. Brodrick, also an architect, who worked with R. G. Smith.

Brodrick was the subject of a 2007 BBC2 television programme The Case of the Disappearing Architect by Jonathan Meades.^[9]

References

1. ^ "BBC - Leeds - How We Built Britain - Cuthbert Broderick". www.bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2007/06/01/how_we_built_britain_cuthbert_broderick_feature.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-24. 
2. ^ "The Building – the bricks & mortar". City Church Leeds. http://www.citychurchleeds.net/ashwood-centre/. Retrieved 2010-10-04. 
3. ^ "BBC - Legacies - Architectural Heritage - England - Leeds - A bolt out of the blue - Article Page 1". www.bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/heritage/england/leeds/article_1.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-24. 
4. ^ Grand Hotels: Reality and Illusion - Google Books. books.google.co.uk. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NhLyGME7734C&pg=PA72&dq=Cuthbert+Brodrick+The+Builder&lr=&ei=9r-SStKqOIvEywToz-m_Bw#v=onepage&q=Brodrick&f=false. Retrieved 2009-08-24. 
5. ^ "Ancestry.co.uk - 1901 Channel Islands Census". search.ancestry.co.uk. http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=7816&iid=JERRG13_5313_5315-0798&fn=Cuthbert&ln=Brodrick&st=r&ssrc=&pid=33837985. Retrieved 2009-08-25. 
6. ^ Directory of British Architects 1834 ... - Google Books. books.google.co.uk. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lHii4haIULEC&pg=PA262&dq=Cuthbert+Brodrick&lr=&ei=w76SSs39H4y0NNKZvLYH#v=onepage&q=Cuthbert%20Brodrick&f=false. Retrieved 2009-08-24. 
7. ^ "The Cuthbert Brodrick, Leeds - Leeds City Guide - The Essential Guide to Bars, Pubs, Clubs, Hotels and Restaurants in Leeds.". www.leeds-city-guide.com. http://www.leeds-city-guide.com/cocoon.html. Retrieved 2009-08-25. 
8. ^ Leach, Peter; and Nikolaus Pevsner (2009). Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 448. ISBN 978-0-300-12665-5. 
9. ^ "The Case of the Disappearing Architect". BBC 2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007l3zm. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Brodrick, Cuthbert
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1821-12-01
Place of birth	Kingston upon Hull
Date of death	1905-03-02
Place of death	Jersey, Channel Islands