Bradford Baroque

We met up with a friend in Lister Park with the intention of having a wander round Cartwright Hall and the wonderful gardens. 

Cartwright Hall, named after Edmund Cartwright, the inventor of the wool-combing machine which was so crucial to the textile industry in Bradford, was designed by the same architects as Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and is in a Baroque style which became the Bradford style of the time. Some of the money for the building was donated  by Samuel Lister, the owner of Lister’s Mill and it was opened in 1904 as the City Art Gallery. (Edmund Cartwright is in the extra)

I remember coming here often when I was a child, especially when there was the very popular Lido in the grounds. Later we brought our own children. The one thing I remember quite distinctly were the bees. There was a structure built into the wall that enabled one to watch bees flying in and to see what they were doing. Sadly the bees are no longer there - they have apparently gone to Cliffe Castle in Keighley but a very knowledgable lady told us all about them. 

So, we wandered the galleries, found paintings that I didn’t know were there, I was particularly fascinated by  the David Hockney gallery. After tea and a toasted teacake in the cafe, we realised that a walk round the gardens was not a good idea in the rain. So we headed back. 

(Not the best picture of the Hall, but it was raining, I only had my phone and I was not going to move further back and get very wet.)