Bradford City Hall

Before its relocation, between 1847 and 1873, the town hall had been the Fire Station House in Swain Street. In 1869, a new triangular site was purchased, and a competition held for a design to rival the town halls of Leeds and Halifax. It was first extended in 1909 to a design by Norman Shaw and executed by architect F.E.P. Edwards, with another council chamber, more committee rooms and a banqueting hall. It was extended again with a new entrance and staircase in baroque marble by William Williamson in 1914. After the bells stopped in 1992 due to decay of the bell frame, they were repaired with National Lottery funds in 1997. and in October 2006, the building was illuminated for Bradford…

In the banqueting hall is a 19th-century overmantel and frieze carved by C. R. Millar. The frieze carries the Bradford city motto: Labor omnia vincit (Hard work conquers all), reflecting the ethos of an industrial city, and the work ethic of the Evangelical movement represented by many local chapels. The figures on the frieze represent the wool trade between Bradford and the world, besides architecture and the arts.