A guildhall, which was located at the southern end of Market Place, was first mentioned when it hosted business between the Mayor and Aldermen in 1333. A second guildhall, at a height of two-storeys was built to the north of the first building during the 1630s. This guildhall was demolished to make way for Queen Street in 1805. The mayor then worked from a domestic property in Lower Street, which was first leased and then acquired, until a third guildhall was built to the designs of Cuthbert Brodrick in the Renaissance style on Alfred Gelder Street between 1862 and 1866. The current guildhall, which was designed by Sir Edwin Cooper to accommodate the civic offices and law courts, was built by Quibell, Son & Green of Hull between 1906 and 1914. The eastern end of the current guildhall lies on the site of Brodrick's guildhall. The main frontage on Alfred Gelder Street was built with a central feature flanked by two long colonnades with pavilions at either end. Large sculptures by Albert Hodge, one of a female figure on a boat drawn by seahorses and the other of a figure in a chariot flanked by lions, were placed on each of the pavilions. A clock built by Cooke and Johnson was transferred from Brodrick's guildhall to the new building. A time ball, a mechanism which enables navigators aboard ships to verify the setting of their marine chronometers, was installed at the top of the clock tower when it was built. The guildhall time ball is believed to be the last to have been installed in the UK and also the highest to have been installed the UK. The building was damaged in bombing in May 1941 during the Hull Blitz of the Second World War. A 23-bell carillon was added to the bell tower, which is high, in 2004 and mechanised winding equipment for the clock was installed in 2013. In 2016, the council launched an appeal seeking funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other donors to enable it to raise sufficient funds to restore the time ball. In October 2018 the Heritage Lottery Fund announced a contribution of £281,100 to the council's appeal. Once the time ball has been restored, it is intended that the public will be allowed access to view the mechanism; such access is not possible at other time ball sites such as the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and the Nelson Monument in Edinburgh.
