Co-operative Architecture 1945 - 1959 : Hull Co-operative Society (city centre) and Halstead Co-operative Society, Essex
From a very lavish production, printed of course by the CWS's own Printing Works at Reddish, is a description of the new city centre flagship department store for the Hull Co-operative Society that opened in 1958. This building formed one of the focal points of the city's new city centre, replanned and reconstructed after the devastation of the WW2 Blitz that hit Hull especially hard. The building is currently under threat of demolition and the fine, Listed external murals that are sadly not shown here (the book is a year too early!) are a particular pint of controversy. The two plates show the very stylish entrance, lobby and staircases - terrazzo floor and balustrades looking very smart.
The Halstead Co-operative Society's extension is by constrast very petite! As noted it is indicative of the requirement for smaller societies to be able to incrementally extend their premises 'as and when'. Lovely note below regarding the football boots in the window - designed by Stanley Matthews no less!
The book describes the many new shops, stores, factories and offices for the CWS and the various Societies were designed by the CWS's own Architects Department in the day when the Society basically made and did everything its members could need.
Co-operative Architecture 1945 - 1959 : Hull Co-operative Society (city centre) and Halstead Co-operative Society, Essex
From a very lavish production, printed of course by the CWS's own Printing Works at Reddish, is a description of the new city centre flagship department store for the Hull Co-operative Society that opened in 1958. This building formed one of the focal points of the city's new city centre, replanned and reconstructed after the devastation of the WW2 Blitz that hit Hull especially hard. The building is currently under threat of demolition and the fine, Listed external murals that are sadly not shown here (the book is a year too early!) are a particular pint of controversy. The two plates show the very stylish entrance, lobby and staircases - terrazzo floor and balustrades looking very smart.
The Halstead Co-operative Society's extension is by constrast very petite! As noted it is indicative of the requirement for smaller societies to be able to incrementally extend their premises 'as and when'. Lovely note below regarding the football boots in the window - designed by Stanley Matthews no less!
The book describes the many new shops, stores, factories and offices for the CWS and the various Societies were designed by the CWS's own Architects Department in the day when the Society basically made and did everything its members could need.