John Henry Hirst
John Henry Hirst (29 April 1826 – 6 July 1882) was an English architect who designed civic, commercial and domestic buildings, mainly in Bristol and Harrogate.
He is known in Harrogate for the designs which he created for the developer George Dawson, including large Neoclassical buildings, and the Gothic Revival St Peter's Church.
He is known in his home town, Bristol, for various projects, notably the Neoclassical Stoke Road Drinking Fountain, which is also a listed building.
Hirst died unexpectedly at home in Bristol in circumstances which first appeared unclear, but the inquest found that he had fallen downstairs at some point in the night or early morning and broken his neck.
His paternal grandfather was Henry Hirst of Heckmondwike, West Riding of Yorkshire, who is buried in Westgate Congregational Chapelyard of that town.
[nb 4][5] In 1841, Hirst was living with his parents and two brothers in Newton Lane End, Stanley, Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire.
The Building News described Hirst as a "well-known and widely-esteemed architect", and a "straightforward, genuine Yorkshireman" who was "deservedly popular with all classes".
English Heritage describes it as, "a distinctive Italianate composition with ornate facades that have a high level of decorative detailing".
At point of sale, Towerhirst was described as "a castellated, Gothic, detached villa residence with coach house, stables, gardens an appurtenances" with half an acre of ground and an ornamental lodge.
[24] Close to this suburban idyll, on 18 May 1878, some demolition men were employed in removing the wreck of the steamer Gipsy which was blocking the River Avon.
[28] The Building News described Avonhirst as "a beautiful villa upon one of the most romantic parts of the Avon's banks below Clifton", where he used it to "entertain a large circle of friends and acqaintances".
[30] It is intended for people and animals, was commissioned from Hirst by the Royal Bath and West of England Society, and paid for by the show's entrance fees.
Historic England describes it as: "[a] large rectangular stele with a Pennant apron in front of the plinth with a granite basin, Mansfield moulding to a semicircular arch with a large key above the slate plaque; granite frieze with terracotta animal heads, heavy cornice and sloping top".
[35][33] For Dawson he designed the following Harrogate projects: Vanderbilt Court as Dawson's home in Victoria Avenue, the wings of the Crown Hotel in Crescent Road, Cambridge Crescent and Prospect Crescent,[35] St Peter's Church, the Victoria Park and West End Park developments, buildings in James Street, Montpelier Gardens, the Pump Room and Rink (since demolished), the Crown buildings in Cheltenham Square, and Cleveden with adjacent villas in Victoria Park.
[39] The Crown Place buildings were completed in 1884, as a commercial, 3-storey terrace with a gritstone ashlar frontage, slate roof and bracketed eaves.
Again there were many toasts, including one congratulating Hirst as architect, and God Save the Queen was sung when the event ended at eight o' clock.
The frontage is ashlar gritstone with dressings in red brick and "coarse florid detailing", sash windows and balconies with ironwork.
The National Westminster Bank premises at numbers 4 and 6 have a Flemish Renaissance frontage, with cornices, columns and capitals, carved figures and a coat of arms.
[46] This is a Grade II listed building, comprising numbers 14–24 on the south side of Crescent Road, Harrogate.
[48] Harrogate historian Malcolm Neesam describes Prospect Crescent as follows, while deploring the modern changes wrought on the building:[49] Prospect Crescent, which overlooks the Low Harrogate Valley so impressively, is a massive pile of masonry with giant Corinthian pilasters running up the first and second storeys and several canted bays, also in solid stone.
Each extremity of the crescent is crowned with a tall roof pavilion, similar to several others placed on local buildings of that time.
When seen in late afternoon or early evening, with light from the setting sun illuminating its handsome frontage, Prospect Crescent takes on the appearance of a mini Colosseum.
It is, however, a thousand pities that after the First World War, a series of alterations to the ground-floor commercial premises destroyed all save one of the magnificently florid façades created by builder George Dawson and architect J.H.
[49]Historic England describes this design of Hirst's as a three-storey, symmetrical crescent in gritstone ashlar, with cellars below and central pavilions on the exterior.
Invalided officers who could not find a place in the home were housed in neighbouring buildings, and permitted to spend the day in Vanderbilt Court.
The Baths Committee offered treatment, overseen by Doctor Morris, and neighbours who possessed cars arranged outings for the inmates.
[55] A 1940s advertisement for a whole-house rent said that it had "a large entrance hall, two fine, lofty front rooms, back froom and lavatory.
On a dark December evening in 1871, the Volunteer Service Gazette reported a torchlit "march out and sham fight" for eighty men on Durdham Down, Bristol, organised by Hirst and his fellow officers.
As the men marched back to town from the camp fire, they passed Avonhirst, and stopped to cheer and make speeches.
Nothing else is known until the next morning when a servant coming down found the unfortunate gentleman at the foot of the stairs, head downwards, fully dressed, but dead and cold.
