Chapter Five - Architectural patronage in early-Victorian Huddersfield: the Ramsdens, William Wallen and J. P. Pritchett

power in the landHoly Trinity church (1816-19), by Thomas Taylor of Leeds; Emmanuel, Lockwood (1828-9), by R. D. Chantrell, also of Leeds; St Paul's (1828-30), by John Oates of Halifax; and the rebuilding of the parish church of St Peter (1834-6) was supervised by J. P. Pritchett of York [see Illustration 28, p. 133].Meanwhile, the Congregationalists built the Ramsden Street Chapel (1824) to a design of Pritchett's [see Illustration 33, p. 149] while the Roman Catholic St Patrick's (1832) was by John Child from Leeds.Among the public buildings, Oates was responsible for Lockwood Baths (1827) and the Infirmary (1829-31) while Pritchett designed Huddersfield College (1838 -9) and would soon be responsible for the magnificent railway station (1846-50).Did it matter where these architects had their offices?On one level, perhaps not and the absence of a group of resident architects did not stop Friedrich Engels, in 1845, from concluding that Huddersfield's 'modern architecture' helped make it 'the handsomest by far of the factory towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire' -high praise indeed from a well-travelled commentator.6 However, having a resident architect was one of the signifiers of a town's confidence and its aspirations, and at a time when there was much civic pride among these expanding manufacturing communities, image and status mattered.As these towns sought to present a refined image to sceptical visitors, elegant, fashionable buildings were of crucial importance; it was the means by which the stigma of 'industrial wealth' might be mitigated by claims to culture and sophistication.The erection of the Philosophical Hall in 1836-7 (here attributed to Pritchett 7 ) -a fashionably elegant exterior and a succession of worthy, 'improving' events within -was a crucial marker of such ambitions.The early-nineteenth-century historian Dr T. D. Whitaker wrote that Leeds 'had through its public [buildings] emerged from barbarism to a very high degree of elegance'; 8 no doubt Huddersfield had similar ambitions.9 William Wallen, then aged thirty-one, arrived in Huddersfield in 1838 and established what quickly became a thriving architectural practice, the town's first.Over the next sixteen years he enjoyed considerable success and contributed a number of important buildings to the town.However, the story that follows is more than just architectural history.An examination of architectural patronage reveals much about how the town saw itself and the image it wanted to present; about the establishment of professional services in the town, an essential concomitant to industrial enterprise; and the significance of religious allegiances.It also tells us a good deal about the role played in the town's development by the Ramsden Estate during Huddersfield's physical transformation from 'a miserable village' 10 to the 'spacious' and 'elegant' 11 town centre that still largely exists today.This chapter focuses on two architects, J.P. Pritchett (1789-1868) and William Wallen (1807-88).Together they reveal much about the town in this seminal period of Ramsden influence.10.5920/pitl.

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