I was in town today and took the time to really look at the Town Hall, it's a remarkable building. There's some surprising detail too.

I had regarded it as part of the background all these years and never really took a good look at it before. Take a look next time you're in town and take a stroll all the way around it.

Of course, I've even been IN in a couple of times, most recently to return a letter they sent me that was wrongly addressed iirc, and time before that was a disabled jobs fair a few months back.

Yeah. I used to love taking photographs of the engraved designs. It really is beautiful. Inside's quite sedate though. I hate going in.

It's a brilliant building. The setting makes it even better I think.

You can have a FREE guided tour of the Town Hall.

Pre-booked during the winter, but just turn up during summer:

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/index.asp?pgid=1785

Some photos of the detail here -

http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/sheffield/pom141im.html

Great site by the way, Public Art in Sheffield -

http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/sheffield/index.html

And if you have a good zoom on your camera you can see Vulcan in all his 'glory'. I'm a little surprised our Victorian (and mostly Methodist) city fathers didn't insist he was covered up. ;)

Great site by the way, Public Art in Sheffield -

http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/sheffield/index.html

A great site indeed ! - thanks for that :)

And if you have a good zoom on your camera you can see Vulcan in all his 'glory'. I'm a little surprised our Victorian (and mostly Methodist) city fathers didn't insist he was covered up. ;)

Is he as impressive as the chap on Lewis's in Liverpool?

http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/liverpoolimages/images/dickielewis.jpg

;)

You can have a FREE guided tour of the Town Hall.

Pre-booked during the winter, but just turn up during summer:

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/index.asp?pgid=1785

Thanks for the link, i want to go on one of those tours now. Wonder if there's enough interest here to book one? Needs 20 people.

Odd though that it's very difficult to see the time on it.

Inside's quite sedate though. I hate going in.

Isn't the interior kitted out in the same style as the Titanic, or something?

Is he as impressive as the chap on Lewis's in Liverpool?

http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/liverpoolimages/images/dickielewis.jpg

;)

What do you think ???

http://www.brassedoff.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/shef_town_hall.jpg

My eyesite is quite poor these days :D

Here you go:

http://public-art.shu.ac.uk/sheffield/rag89im.html

They said it would make you blind!

You can have a FREE guided tour of the Town Hall.

Pre-booked during the winter, but just turn up during summer:

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/index.asp?pgid=1785

thought that was only on thursdays?

The general style of the Town Hall is French chateau, so it is a bit lighter and more frivolous than, say, Leeds Town Hall which is more classical and heavy (all the more so because the tower was added later, and the total cost almost beggared the Corporation's purse). Queen Victoria opened both, the Leeds one in 1858 and Sheffield's in 1897.

The Pevsner guide (http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=0300105851) to Sheffield has a wealth of information on the building, and is great for pointing things out you'd not even notice just by staring at it! It's almost shocking how little you realise you've taken in even though you've walked past it thousands of times.

There is a walk in the book that leads you round the outside of the building, and also describes the buildings around it, on Norfolk Row, Surrey Street etc. It's literally a walk round the block but there was so much to look at it took me two hours! :o

i work for the council and i have been inside quite a few times . it is a beautiful building . it is breathtaking inside , the attention to detail , everything is ornate but i would not like to work in there as it seems very spooky along those cold dark corridors.

when I was on a photography course years ago we were given a roll of black and white film and told to go into town and walk around looking up at buildings. There are some very impressive stone carvings all over Sheffield centre.

Dave..

The general style of the Town Hall is French chateau, so it is a bit lighter and more frivolous than, say, Leeds Town Hall which is more classical and heavy (all the more so because the tower was added later, and the total cost almost beggared the Corporation's purse). Queen Victoria opened both, the Leeds one in 1858 and Sheffield's in 1897.

waltheof,

there's a picture of l**ds town hall here,
http://www.aidan.co.uk/photo4931.htm

I was struck how much it actually looked like the old town hall, (which became the courthouse, near the market) albeit that the sheffield one is not on quite as large a scale
http://www.picturesheffield.com/cgi-bin/picturesheffield.pl?_cgifunction=form&_layout=picturesheffield&keyval=sheff.refno=s07254

particularly the similarities between the towers, and the shape of the dome-thing on top of the tower.
ok, I suppose they ought to look similar, as they were constructed at about the same time

I worked there for 2 years in the 80s and I used to love all the old details. The lift with the metal gates was always a worry though and those windows were draughty in the winter though. I used to put up plans for committee and always enjoyed going into the committee rooms and council chamber on my own. It wasnt spooky at all, but had a sort of hushed reverence about it. A bit like a church. I used to really like all the different fireplaces too which were in the committee rooms. It was nice to sometimes go down to the basement too.

Mind you the ex town hall extension didnt have draughty windows but the air con gave you sinusitis.

I wonder when the council will be selling it off for conversion into 'luxury appartments'?

Last monday I walked into town, primarily for the exercise value, but also to save a bit of money.

As I strolled down Burngreave Road, and eventually Spital Hill, I stopped looking down at the pavement and raised my eyes and began taking in the architecture higher up.

I noticed things I had never noticed before when driving past these self same places. I saw everything with fresh eyes: stonework, brickwork, ironwork, and all the product of great workmanship.

These areas were no longer badly kempt canvases, but collections of individual artworks thrown together to make a canvas of great charm and interest.

This made me even more aware of what was above my head as I drew closer to the centre. No longer were my eyes drawn simply to the litter and gum strewn pavements, but the charm and workmanship above my head took my eye now.

In the Wicker, don't look down: look up. Around the markets area: don't look critically at the floor and people walking on it. Look upwards. There's a world of beauty up there just waiting to be drawn down to ground level.

This made me determined to avoid my usual A-B rush, but instead to take my time. To look, search, and look some more.

"Big Issue mate?"

"No thanks .... sorry!"

"S'okay mate. Take care."

Pleasant. No worries. I had spoken to a complete stranger ... and he to me. This was not the insular captivity of Meadowhall.

On Union Street it might just pay you to look down for a short while though. On the right, as you walk south away from the Peace Gardens. Look down and see the paving slabs, undisturbed since you were a child. No matter that you might be in your 70's, these paving slabs would have been the same ones you rushed along as a child when expectantly rushing from Cambridge Arcade to Redgates. Go on, look down just this once: then look up again and admire the wonderful treasures that the Luftewaffe, planners, and sheer luck have left intact despite their best efforts to destroy it all.

That shop window you are admiring those mobile phones in whilst standing amongst the gum and polystyrene strewn 21st century is most likely propping up a masterpiece in stone, brick and iron.

Go on, dare you. Look above the squallour for once and appreciate what there is, and imagine also what could be. Browse 'Picture Sheffield.com' and then take a walk: find those 19th century roof lines again and I bet you will see Sheffield city centre, our city centre a place to be proud of once again.

Just remember to look down ever so often though. For there, when our council have allowed it to be so, lie the footsteps of our youth and those of our forebears who created the wonderful architecture that has been hiding above our heads.

;)

^^I think it gives you more an idea of what someone visiting Sheffield for the first time would also see.

Last monday I walked into town, primarily for the exercise value, but also to save a bit of money.

As I strolled down Burngreave Road, and eventually Spital Hill, I stopped looking down at the pavement and raised my eyes and began taking in the architecture higher up.

snippety-snip



Great post :thumbsup:

The Pevsner Architectural Guide to Sheffield is a must have book for anyone who looks higher than the pavement. It's written in a great style and isn't stuffy like the old Pevsner guides.

This site is good too which is associated with the books:

http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/default.asp?document=3.V.5