Castleford Civic Centre

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Castleford Civic Centre
Castleford Civic Centre (24th April 2021) 003.jpg
The building in 2021
LocationFerrybridge Road, Castleford
Coordinates 53°43′29″N1°20′35″W / 53.7247°N 1.3430°W / 53.7247; -1.3430
Built1970
ArchitectGriffiths Lewis Goad Partnership
Architectural style(s) Brutalist style
West Yorkshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in West Yorkshire

Castleford Civic Centre is a municipal building in Ferrybridge Road in Castleford, a town in West Yorkshire in England. The building, which was previously the offices and meeting place of the Municipal Borough of Castleford, is now used as a local events venue.

Contents

History

Symmetry in Opposition, sculpture by Diana Dean Symmetry in Opposition, 1970.jpg
Symmetry in Opposition, sculpture by Diana Dean

After significant industrial growth in the mid-19th century, largely associated with the coal mining and glass industries, a local board of health was formed in 1851. The local board established its offices in a new building, which became known as the Town Hall, in Carleton Street in the 1880. [1] Castleford became an urban district in 1894 [2] and a municipal borough in 1955. [3] However, by the 1960s, the Municipal Borough of Castleford had outgrown the old town hall, and decided to commission a new building to house the council's administration and also provide a venue for events. [4]

The council organised a competition in 1964, which was won by the Griffiths Lewis Goad Partnership, [5] described by Nikolaus Pevsner as a firm of "three very young architects". [6] The winning design offered two large function rooms, the largest with a capacity of 700 people. [7] The building was designed in the Brutalist style and clad in pre-cast concrete. The first phase of the building, consisting of the offices and events venue, was opened by Katharine, Duchess of Kent on 14 March 1970. [8] The proposed second phase, a council hall, was never built. [7] Sculpture for the building was commissioned from Diana Dean. [9]

The building ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Wakefield Council was formed in 1974. [10] However, the building continued to be used as a local events venue. In 1980, Henry Moore donated a sculpture, "Draped Reclining Figure", which was placed outside the building, but it was removed in 2012 due to concerns around possible theft. [11]

In 2022, the council considered closing the events spaces due to increases in energy prices. [12] The following year, the council described the building as "under-utilised", and proposed to sell it off. [13] [14]

Architecture

The five-storey offices and three-storey events space form two sides of a square, on Ferrybridge Road, and the two are linked only at ground floor level. They are clad in precast concrete. There is a basement car park. The offices consist of two blocks linked by a staircase and lift tower, with each storey stepped back from the one below. [5]

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References

  1. ↑ "Historic Buildings in West Yorkshire (Medieval and Post-medieval to 1914)" (PDF). West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service. 1 August 2013. p. 71. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Stocksbridge UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "1869 – Grander and Grander". Castleford.org. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. ↑ Castleford – Municipal offices, civic suite and assembly hall. Vol. 178. The Electrical Review. 1966. p. 49.
  5. 1 2 "Castleford Civic Centre competition result". Architects' Journal. 24 June 1964.
  6. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Enid, Radcliffe (1967). The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding. Penguin Books. p. 622.
  7. 1 2 Linstrum, Derek (1978). West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture. Lund Humphries. p. 362. ISBN   978-0853314103.
  8. ↑ "Cas Tigers Heritage Project – Interior of Castleford Civic Centre, Ferrybridge Road 1970s". castigersheritage.com. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  9. ↑ Who's Who of Canadian Women, 1999-2000. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1999. p. 252. ISBN   978-0920966556.
  10. ↑ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN   0-10-547072-4.
  11. ↑ "Des Hughes". The Hepworth Wakefield. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  12. ↑ Gardner, Tony (10 October 2022). "Castleford Civic Centre could be next public building to close as Wakefield Council face £5m energy bill increase". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  13. ↑ "Castleford Civic Centre could be sold to help meet budget gap". BBC News. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  14. ↑ Gardner, Tony (5 December 2023). "Castleford Civic Centre set to be sold off as council looks to plug £35m funding gap". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
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