Three Bradford murals

In the Little Germany area of Bradford, there are several interesting murals. The first, above, is on the side of the Bradford Playhouse. It was painted in 1993 and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the founding, in Bradford, of the Independent Labour Party, which was effectively the forerunner of our modern Labour Party. It came about as the result of a crippling strike over pay and conditions by mill-workers in 1890, when people realised that the strikers had lacked key political support and a political movement began, focused on improving working and living conditions for ordinary workers. (See HERE). 

The second is (just about) recognisably a picture of the artist David Hockney, who appears to be taking a photo of his own image (see HERE) on the opposite wall. 

The third is in a blocked-up doorway in one of the Victorian textile warehouse buildings. If you look carefully, the name of the band Led Zeppelin confirms that this is the Stairway to Heaven - unfortunately it's closed!

Bradford Playhouse

Bradford has a fine and historic theatre, The Alhambra, that hosts the big touring shows: musicals, plays, ballets and a much-loved pantomime at Christmas. Tucked away in the Little Germany district, however, is a much smaller theatre, the Bradford Playhouse. It was founded by an amateur group in 1929 and within a few years the playwright J B Priestley became its President. He helped rebuild it after a fire in the 1930s (with a very Thirties-looking facade, see above). Another fire in 1996 caused the closure of the main auditorium, which was again rebuilt. Since then, it has changed ownership, name and been threatened with closure many times and many efforts have been made to revitalise it as an important community resource. It seems to struggle on heroically. 

Eastbrook Hall

Despite some of Bradford's city centre being a bit run-down, it has some very fine buildings. One of them is Eastbrook Hall, now Grade II listed. It was originally a Methodist Chapel, opened in 1904, replacing an earlier one on the same site, and was known as 'the Methodist cathedral of the north'. It had a fine, galleried hall which saw huge and fervent gatherings. I have seen reports of it also being a theatre but I can't be sure of that. It was disused from the 1980s and then suffered a major fire in 1996, which left it derelict and roofless.

In 2008, an £11m renovation project, supported by the Prince's Regeneration Trust (founded by the Prince of Wales), saw it converted into apartments, though as with many of the conversions in Little Germany, the potential has never been fully realised due to the effects of the recession on the housing market and the ongoing struggle Bradford has to revive the city centre.

With nail and Hockney

Mounted on a gable end at the corner of Peckover Street and Chapel Street, in the historic Little Germany area of Bradford, there's a large portrait of the Bradford-born artist David Hockney. It is created in the style of his 'joiner' photographs but the interesting thing is that it is created entirely out of painted nails, mounted in marine plywood. Its sculptor is Marcus Levine and apparently it took him 15 months to complete. The last panel was added about a year ago. (See HERE for press article.) It's rather effective and quite astonishing to see the level of detail the artist has achieved.

Little Germany

This, by contrast, is the area known as Bradford's Little Germany, down the hill from yesterday's Gatehaus building.  It's an historic area of narrow streets and Victorian warehouses, mostly built between 1860 and 1874 by German Jewish wool merchants - rich and influential men who used the best architects (among them Lockwood and Mawson, Saltaire's architects) and vied with each other (and with other local cities) in their desire to produce buildings that reflected their standing. The area has been a conservation area for many years, with many listed buildings and attempts have been made to repurpose the buildings in a sensible way. They've tried to push it upmarket with a sort of arts/cultural theme. Many of the warehouses are now apartments, but the area struggles to be a community because of its isolated location.