forbidding tower
Sheffield Victoria Hall, Norfolk Street: Tower
The detailing is both original and, at first sight, highly wilful. It includes a moulded band and a balustrade with the centre projecting in a vee shape. This emphasises the carved medallion below it and serves to give it a degree of protection so that what appears to be mere caprice has sound practical and aesthetic reasons behind it. Above this, gently curving buttresses of startling originality break through a second moulded band, this time curved, to combine as the corner posts of the base of a cupola. Hale uses these buttresses to effect a visual transition from the uncompromisingly rectangular brick tower, through an intermediate stage with the second curved band, to the rounded dome at the top while at the same time emphasising the unity of the structure by the rounded openings in the top two stages echoing each other.
From: Looking at Buildings: an educational resource created by the Pevsner Architectural Guides www.pevsner.co.uk
Comments and faves
polly.jayne (65 months ago | reply)
Wilful?
*laughing*
Oh, I shouldn't, really. And it is a beautifully-designed tower. You probably can't get it from a good angle like this anymore, either.