Historic Analysis

3 Historic Analysis 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Water 3.3 Urban Morphology 3.4 Historic Layers 3.5 North and South Strands 3.6 Hulls Topology 3.7 The Implications for Design in the Fruit Market 27_- 3.00 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.1 Introduction 3.1 This section of the Development Brief examines the city centre’s key natural features and the effects of these in shaping the plan form of the Old Town. The Fruit Market was an integral part of the Old Town until the A63 – a product of a Buchanan Masterplan - sliced the Old Town in two in the 1960s. The city’s history as it has been shaped by its relationship to water, from its fundamental topology to the way that development has related to the water, from the construction of the town walls from the 15th century to the creation of the ring of inner docks in the 18th and 19th century and their closure in the 20th. Successive waves of development, most particularly in the second half of the 20th century, have eroded this relationship. 3.2 A key task of development in the Fruit Market in the 21st century is to honour the legacy of this history, protecting and restoring what remains and where it has been or damaged, recovering it in sympathetic, but contemporary, development. This section concludes with the historic references that new development must observe and reinforce: • The contrast between the flatness of the city centre’s topography and the verticality of its buildings, and the consciousness and sensitivity with which new development must manage this contrast; • The symbolic importance of the water, both in the massing and heights of buildings that relate to the water and in maintaining and recovering visual clues of the relationship with water; • The recovery and emphasis of the alleys and ginnels that remain, and the qualities of discovery and interest engendered; and • The plot widths that characterise the Fruit Market’s morphology. Pre 17th Century Fig 6. Kingston upon Hull 1:10 000 28 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.00 Tidal Surge Barrier Central Dry Dock Nelson Street Spurn Lightship 17th Century 1888 1935 Today 29_- 3.00 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.2 Water 3.3 Kingston-Upon-Hull owes its existence to water. The city lies at the confluence of the Humber and River Hull on the flat alluvial plains of Holderness. The historic ‘ring of docks’, which evolved from the moat that had surrounded the old city wall, is the most significant symbol of Hull’s intimate relationship with water. The subsequent loss of this ring of docks, through the filling-in of Queen’s Dock to create Queen’s Gardens in the 1930s, demonstrates the necessity to promote and enhance this relationship in the future. The city needs to engage with its water heritage, and proposals for the Fruit Market must embrace the symbolic strength of Hull’s water infrastructure, such as the Tidal Surge Barrier, Central Dry Dock, Victoria Pier, the Spurn Lightship, the Marina and the River Humber and Hull water frontages. The Old Town Walls 3.4 The most significant historic distinction within the Fruit Market is that between land that had been within the Old Town walls (north of Humber Street), and that which had been part of the River Humber foreshore until the land was reclaimed in the early 19th century. Humber Street coincides with the south line of the medieval town wall and the water’s edge. Remains of the wall are directly below the south pavement of Humber Street, which continues into High Street, defining a zone of development associated with the medieval wall and the water. Its crossing with Queen Street marks the Fruit Market as a focus of influences, from the dense eastern water edge to the more formal Market Place to the north (now across the A63). 3.5 Since the eastern defence wall was built on the east of River Hull, this stretch of water had been part of the defended town, allowing warehouses to be built up to the water’s edge. Existing water (2008) Reclaimed Land Historic Moat Historic City wall Fig 7. Demarcations of reclaimed land and the old City Wall 30 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.00 c 1530 1640 1784 1869 Fig 8. Historic Map Series: 1530 - 1869 31_- 3.00 HISTORIC ANALYSIS Fig 9. Historic Photographs of the Fruit Market 32 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.00 3.3 Urban Morphology 3.6 The Old Town is characterised by the dense historic development of deep and almost solid city blocks. A system of alleys and ginnels penetrated these blocks, barely providing for access, and allowing only the most minimal daylight and ventilation. 3.7 Whilst this typology must be referenced in the regeneration of the Fruit Market, it is also acknowledged that this form of development created unsuitable and squalid conditions in the past. What is important to draw from it is the quality of discovery and interest that these narrow passages engender, whilst also setting a formal relation to the street. A dominant character is a product of the inherent plot-ratios within these permeated city blocks, well preserved 19th century facades and a broad variation in roof heights and profiles. These features combine in helping to give the Fruit Market Conservation Area its particular character. Fig 10. Figure Ground 1891 - Victorian Fig 11. Figure Ground 1928 - Pre-war 33_- 3.00 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 1928 1891 2008 Fig 12. Figure Ground 1981 - Victorian Fig 13. Figure Ground 2008 - Composite of Histoiric Layers Today 34 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.00 3.4 Historic Layers 3.8 The layering of figure-ground plans from different periods in the Connections between the Fruit Market development of the Old Town reveals both the traits that persist and the Rest of the City Centre through history and the sudden shifts that occurred in town planning. This layering of Hull’s history is particularly important in 3.9 The historic layers reveal the prominence of the connections into thinking about an appropriate development of the Fruit Market, the Fruit Market and the degree of severance the A63 has had. which features both persistent elements and the effects of more sudden changes or discontinuities. Comparing the figure-ground plans throughout the development of the Old Town, reveals the Market Place into Queen Street following: 3.10 This connection is maintained, but through traffic lights with i) Areas where an organic evolution has taken place, most notably in pedestrian crossings. The lack of a right turn from the A63 into the the middle section of High Street. Here there has been a gradual Fruit Market emphasises this disconnection. development, tending to increase the size of buildings laterally, but maintaining street pattern in the main. As a result, both High Street High Street into Humber Street (primary) and side alleys (secondary) are consistent throughout. Generally, the high density that was found within the city blocks in 3.11 This connection is maintained and passes under the A63. the early Victorian period was noticeably reduced by the early 20th Century. Other examples of this kind are King Street/Land of Green Ginger and to some extent the north side of Humber Street in The Fish Street into Sewer Lane Fruit Market. 3.12 This connection is not maintained. ii) Areas subject to sudden major infrastructural change which have been successfully integrated, such as the introduction of Alfred Gelder Street and the Guildhall during World War I, which is ultimately accommodated by the surrounding area or ‘integrated’, resulting in a degree of urban cohesion. iii) Areas subject to sudden major infrastructural change which have failed to integrate, such as the introduction of the A63 in the 1970s which results in a disconnection between road and built form and a resulting lack of urban cohesion and spatial legibility. The surrounding area has yet to catch up with the road’s imposition, most markedly to the south of the A63, where the north edge of the Fruit Market (including ‘Phase Two Sites’) was only partially set out in the 1980’s. 35_- 3.00 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.5 North/South Strands 3.13 Within the area that had been circumscribed by the Old Town’s walls, the urban morphology is defined by a series of distinct north/ south strands of development and key arteries: River Hull; High Street; Queen Street/Market Place/Lowgate; Fish Lane and Princes and Humber docks to the west 3.14 Dense development was initially concentrated to the east side of the Old Town along the River Hull, with a layer of warehouse buildings fronting onto High Street and following the sinuous form of the river. From here, a zone of houses, pubs and shops, were built with equal density leading up to the more formal and broad Market Place and Lowgate, with civic uses to these frontages. To the west of Market Place, Holy Trinity Church formed the heart of the Old Town , with a lower density including fields and smallholdings leading up to Beverley Gate to the North West. 3.15 Through reclaiming land to the south of Humber Street and the flow of High Street into the east west orientation of Humber Street, the strands become overlaid. These therefore are less defined in the Fruit Market, and yielded to a more disparate range of influences and characteristics. Fig 14. North - South Layers of the Urban Fabric Fig 15. Hull City Plan 1784 36 HISTORIC ANALYSIS 3.00 3.6 Hull's Topography 3.16 Hull and its hinterland are characterised by a distinct flatness. The region’s topography creates a sense of continuity with the flatness and breadth of the estuary itself, emphasising the city’s identity with water.

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