The Milligan and Forbes Warehouse in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is a grade II listed building [1] built as the eponymous stuff merchants' warehouse in the 19th century. It is considered the city's first building in the Palazzo style and was very influential on 19th-century Bradford architecture.
Robert Milligan was born in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, on 10 October 1786. [2] He settled in Bradford in about 1810 and established a drapers shop in Kirkgate, [3] eventually beginning a career as a stuff merchant. He became head of the firm of Milligan, Forbes and Co, which became synonymous with the stuff trade in Bradford. Milligan was the first Mayor of Bradford (1847–48) and subsequently Liberal MP for the borough in three successive Parliaments between 1851 and 1857. His partner, London traveller Henry Forbes, was also mayor of Bradford in 1849–50. [2]
The firm decided to build a new warehouse for home trade and a site was purchased on Hall Ings next to the soon to be built St George's Hall. Andrew and Delauney, who would later build impressive structures in Bradford's Little Germany district, were the architectural firm chosen to design the building. The style is similar and perhaps based on the warehouses created by Edward Walters in Manchester around this time. [4] Both St George's Hall and Milligan and Forbes were completed in 1853, with the warehouse considered today as Bradford's first Palazzo building. It was intended to complement its neighbour and indeed it was described in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (published 1870–72) as "not much inferior to that pile in magnificence". [5]
In the 1920s, Bradford's local newspaper company, the Telegraph and Argus , moved into the building and is still operating, on a massively reduced scale, from there today. Because of the increasing demands of newspaper production, a large extension was added to the original Victorian building, although it is now redundant. The Bradford architects Robinson Design Partnership designed the smoked-glass press hall, opened in 1981. [6]
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the south, Greater Manchester to the south-west, and Lancashire to the west. The city of Leeds is the largest settlement.
The Telegraph & Argus is the daily newspaper for Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is published six times each week, from Monday to Saturday inclusive. The newspaper has offices in Newhall Way, Bradford, from where its journalists work. Locally, the paper is known as the T&A. It also breaks news 24/7 on its website.
The Wool Exchange Building in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England is a grade I-listed building built as a wool-trading centre in the 19th century. The grandeur of its Gothic Revival architecture is symbolic of the wealth and importance that wool brought to Bradford. Today it is a Waterstones bookshop as well as a cafe.
St George's Hall is a strategic grade II* listed Victorian building located in the centre of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Originally designed with a seating capacity of 3,500, the hall seats up to 1,335 people and 1,550 for standing concerts. It is one of the oldest concert halls still in use in the United Kingdom. German Jewish wool merchants who had moved to Bradford because of its textile industry, partly financed the building of St George's Hall, and were instrumental in its construction.
Little Germany is an area of particular historical and architectural interest in central Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The architecture is predominantly neoclassical in style with an Italian influence. Many individual buildings are listed, and Little Germany is also protected as a Conservation Area.
Watts Warehouse is a large, ornate Victorian Grade II* listed building standing on Portland Street in the centre of Manchester, England. It opened in 1856 as a textile warehouse for the wholesale drapery business of S & J Watts, and was the largest single-occupancy textile warehouse in Manchester. Today the building is part of the Britannia Hotels chain.
Robert Milligan was a Liberal Party politician and the first mayor of Bradford.
George Corson (1829–1910) was a Scottish architect active in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Peel Park is a 22.6-hectare (56-acre) urban public park in the Bolton and Undercliffe area of Bradford, England, located about 0.75 miles (1.2 km) north-east of the city centre, and named after Sir Robert Peel (1788–1850). Peel Park was Bradford's first public park and is on the English Heritage and National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens online databases. The park is a Green Flag Award winner and has been for a number of years.
Bradford City Hall is a 19th-century town hall in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building which has a distinctive clock tower.
Bradford is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the 1974 reform, the city status has belonged to the larger City of Bradford metropolitan borough. It had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 census, making it the second-largest subdivision of the West Yorkshire Built-up Area after Leeds, which is approximately 9 miles (14 km) to the east. The borough had a population of 552,644, making it the 9th most populous district in England.
Mosley Street is a street in Manchester, England. It runs between its junction with Piccadilly Gardens and Market Street to St Peter's Square. Beyond St Peter's Square it becomes Lower Mosley Street. It is the location of several Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings.
The Bradford Synagogue, officially Bradford Reform Synagogue, is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 7 Bowland Street in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, in the United Kingdom. Established as a congregation in 1873, the synagogue building was completed in 1881. The synagogue building was listed as a Grade II* building in 1989.
Saltaire United Reformed Church is a church at Saltaire, West Yorkshire, England. Commissioned and paid for by Titus Salt in the mid 19th century, the church is a Grade I listed building and sits within the Saltaire World Heritage Site.
William Mawson was an English architect best known for his work in and around Bradford.
Bradford Dale, is a side valley of Airedale that feeds water from Bradford Beck across the City of Bradford into the River Aire at Shipley in West Yorkshire, England. Whilst it is in Yorkshire and a dale, it is not part of the Yorkshire Dales and has more in common with Lower Nidderdale and Lower Airedale for its industrialisation.
Drummond Mill was a complex of industrial buildings on Lumb Lane, Manningham, Bradford, West Yorkshire. It contained originally a spinning mill, a warehouse, a spinning shed, and an engine house with chimney and was destroyed in a fire on 28 January 2016.
Mawer and Ingle was a company of architectural sculptors, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, between 1860 and 1871. It comprised cousins Charles Mawer and William Ingle (1828–1870), and Catherine Mawer (1804–1877) who was mother of Charles and aunt of William. The group produced carvings on many Gothic Revival churches and their internal furnishings. They also worked on civic buildings, warehouses and offices. Many of these are now listed by Historic England, and many of the surviving buildings are within Yorkshire. Their work outside Yorkshire included Trent Bridge.
Ilkley Town Hall, on Station Road, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, is a Grade II listed municipal building designed by William Bakewell of Leeds. It forms the centre of a small complex of public buildings, which also includes Ilkley Library, and the King's Hall & Winter Garden theatre. The library, Town Hall and King's Hall opened in 1908 opposite Ilkley railway station; the Winter Garden was added to the west in 1914.
Cottingley Town Hall is a municipal building in Main Street in Cottingley, West Yorkshire, England. The building, which was used as a church and a community centre, is a Grade II listed building.