William Hill (architect)
William Hill was an English architect who practised from offices in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
He was a member of, and designed churches for the Methodist New Connexion. His son William Longfield Hill succeeded him in the practice, and later joined in partnership with Salmon L. Swann of Sheffield.
Early life
William Hill was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and educated at the West Riding Propriety School, a Nonconformist school in Wakefield, also in West Yorkshire. In about 1843 he became a pupil in the Leeds architectural practice of Perkin and Backhouse, the town's most successful firm at the time. Hill opened his own office in June 1850 at 59 Albion Street, Leeds.Career and works
Hill's first recorded commission was in 1852 to build a terrace of nine houses, and his work for the next five years was at a similar, mundane level. At this time most architects traditionally confined their works to the area close to their office. Hill was to gain commissions for more substantial buildings, and for gaining such commissions in other parts of the country. Webster identifies two reasons for this: the first was his willingness to enter competitions for the design of buildings in other parts of the country, and the second being his membership of the Methodist New Connexion. The latter movement arose from a schism within the Methodist Church, and was a movement that encouraged using an architect for their chapels who was one of their members. From this source came commissions for chapels in Leeds, Leicester, Dewsbury, Sheffield, Stockport, Halifax, Birmingham, Durham, and Hanley. Commissions came from other Nonconformist chapels, the Wesleyan Methodists, the Congregationalists, the Unitarians, the Baptists, the United Methodist Free Churches, and even for churches for the Church of England. The architectural styles he used for these chapels and churches were both Neoclassical and Gothic.Hill's willingness to enter competitions further afield resulted in his gaining commissions for corn exchanges in Devizes, Wiltshire, Banbury, Oxfordshire, and Hertford, for which he produced broadly similar Neoclassical designs. Hill also entered competitions for new cemeteries, workhouses, town halls, poor law offices, Mechanics' Institutes, markets, and dispensaries. Following his success in some of these competitions, he also gained commissions for private houses.
Hills' major commissions were for two town halls. The first was for Bolton Town Hall, for which he won the competition for his design of a scaled-down version of Leeds Town Hall. He was awarded £120 for the design, which originally included no tower, but one was added later. During its construction, Hill was assisted by a local architect, George Woodhouse, but the design was entirely Hill's. The final cost of the town hall came to £167,000, this being the most expensive town hall built up to that time. Ten years later, the counsellors of Portsmouth invited Hill to design a town hall in a similar style to that of Bolton, but on a larger scale. Hill's design for the town hall, now known as Portsmouth Guildhall, added ten domes at its corners to enliven its sky-line. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner commented that it is "one of the grandest gestures of municipal pride".
Later life
Hill practised in sequence from three offices in Leeds and, in common with other architects, took in pupils. One of these was his son, William Longfield Hill, who succeeded him in the practice. In 1868 he joined in partnership with Salmon L. Swann of Sheffield. It was a loose arrangement, in that each continued to practise from his own office and, although attribution was sometimes given to "Hill and Swann", most of the designs were produced independently. From 1874, Hill lived in The Heath, Adel, a house he designed for himself to the north of Leeds, where he died in 1889. His estate amounted to a little over £8,181. He was buried with his wife in the churchyard of St John, Adel. Their monument, by Hodgson of Leeds, has been designated as a Grade II listed building.Key
| Grade | Criteria |
| Grade II* | Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. |
| Grade II | Buildings of national importance and special interest. |
Notable extant works
| Name | Location | Photograph | Date | Notes | Grade |
| Methodist church | Leeds, West Yorkshire | 1857–58 | Built for the Methodist New Connexion in Neoclassical style with Corinthian pilasters. Later used by Leeds Metropolitan University. | ||
| Corn Exchange and Public Hall | Hertford | 1857–59 | In Neoclassical style, the main front has pilasters, and the pediment contains a carving of the Hertfordshire hart and sacks of corn. It was altered in 1979–80 to provide shops on the ground floor and a hall and meeting rooms above. | ||
| Methodist church and school | Andover Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire | 1862 | The school was built in 1862 followed by the church in 1865 for the Methodist New Connexion; later a Seventh Day Adventist church. Constructed in stone and in Gothic Revival style. | ||
| Public dispensary | Leeds, West Yorkshire | 1865 | Built as a public dispensary, later used as a chest clinic. In red brick with stone dressings, and Italianate style. | ||
| Bolton Town Hall | Bolton, Greater Manchester | 1866–73 | Hill was assisted by George Woodhouse. It is in Neoclassical style with a six-column Corinthian portico, and a domed tower high. The hall was extended in 1938. | ||
| Bethesda Methodist Church | Elland, West Yorkshire | 1879–80 | In Gothic Revival style, the main front includes a round-headed double doorway, and a four-light wheel window, flanked by pilasters rising to turrets with decorated pyramidal spires. | ||
| Yeadon Town Hall | Yeadon, West Yorkshire | 1879–80 | It is in two storeys, with a frontage in French Gothic style. At the centre of the main front is a two-stage clock tower. | ||
| Meanwood Methodist Church | Meanwood, Leeds, West Yorkshire | 1881 | Built in local sandstone and Potternewton stone, with slate roofs, it is in Gothic Revival style. The church was extended by Hill in 1886. | ||
| Portsmouth Guildhall | Portsmouth, Hampshire | 1886–90 | Built as the town hall, this is designed in Italianate Classical style. Damaged in the Second World War and largely rebuilt, but without some of its former decorative details. Its frontage has 17 bays and a large six-column Corinthian portico. |