Castleford_Civic_Centre

Castleford Civic Centre

Castleford Civic Centre

Municipal building in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England

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.

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History

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]

References

  1. [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. [2]
    "Stocksbridge UD". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. [3]
    "1869 – Grander and Grander". Castleford.org. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. [4]
    Castleford – Municipal offices, civic suite and assembly hall. Vol. 178. The Electrical Review. 1966. p. 49.
  5. [5]
    "Castleford Civic Centre competition result". Architects' Journal. 24 June 1964.
  6. [6]
    Pevsner, Nikolaus; Enid, Radcliffe (1967). The Buildings of England: Yorkshire: The West Riding. Penguin Books. p. 622.
  7. [7]
    Linstrum, Derek (1978). West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture. Lund Humphries. p. 362. ISBN 978-0853314103.
  8. [8]
    "Cas Tigers Heritage Project – Interior of Castleford Civic Centre, Ferrybridge Road 1970s". castigersheritage.com. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
  9. [9]
    Who's Who of Canadian Women, 1999-2000. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 1999. p. 252. ISBN 978-0920966556.
  10. [10]
    Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  11. [11]
    "Des Hughes". The Hepworth Wakefield. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  12. [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. [13]
    "Castleford Civic Centre could be sold to help meet budget gap". BBC News. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  14. [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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