Bradford - Landmarks

Landmarks

See also: List of Grade I listed buildings in City of Bradford

Bradford's oldest building is the cathedral, which for most of its life was a parish church. Few other Medieval buildings have survived apart from Bolling Hall, which has been preserved as a museum.

There are some fine Victorian buildings: apart from the abundance of mills, there is the City Hall (with statues of rulers of England unusually including Oliver Cromwell), the former Wool Exchange, and a large Victorian cemetery at Undercliffe. Little Germany is a splendid Victorian commercial district just east of the city centre which takes its name from 19th century German Jewish immigrants who ran businesses from some of the many listed buildings. Following decades of decay there have been successful conversions to office and residential use. In mid-2005 renovation began on the prominent Eastbrook Hall in Little Germany. Bradford also has a number of architecturally historic hotels that date back to the establishment of the two railway lines into the city centre, back in Victorian times. The Victoria Hotel and the Midland Hotel were built to accommodate business travellers to the city during the height of the woollen trade.

Like many cities, Bradford lost a number of notable buildings to developers in the 1960s and 1970s: particularly mourned at the time were the Swan Arcade and the old Kirkgate Market. In recent years some buildings from that era have themselves been demolished and replaced: Provincial House, next to Centenary Square, was demolished by controlled explosion in 2002, and Forster House was pulled down in 2005 as part of the Broadway development.

Bradford's main art gallery is housed in the grand Edwardian Cartwright Hall in Lister Park. The National Media Museum celebrates cinema and movies, and is the most visited museum outside London. It contains an Imax cinema, the Cubby Broccoli Cinema, and the Pictureville Cinema — described by David Puttnam as the best cinema in Britain.

Also in the city is The St George's Hall - a grand concert hall dating from 1853 making it the oldest concert hall in Britain and the third oldest in the whole of Europe. The former Odeon cinema (originally the New Victoria Theatre) was the recent focus of protests by Bradfordians who did not wish to see the old building close. Adjacent is the Alhambra theatre, built in 1914 for theatre impresario Frank Laidler, and later owned by the Moss Empire group (Oswald Stoll and Edward Moss). The theatre was refurbished in 1986.

Within the city district there are 37 parks and gardens. Lister Park, with its boating lake and Mughal Water Gardens, was voted Britain's Best Park for 2006. Peel Park is the venue for the annual Mela — a celebration of eastern culture, and Bowling Park in East Bowling is the site of the annual Bradford Carnival celebrating local African and Caribbean culture.

Bradford City Park, a six-acre public space in the heart of Bradford contains the largest man-made water feature in any UK city - a 4,000sq m mirror pool featuring more than 100 fountains, including the tallest in any UK city at 30 m (100 ft). When the mirror pool is drained City Park is capable of holding events such as carnivals, markets, theatre productions, screenings and community festivals.

Work started on the £24m project in February 2010 and City Park officially opened in March 2012, with thousands of people turning out for the grand opening event.

Bradford Odeon, formerly the Gaumont and New Victoria Theatre, was built in 1930 as a music venue and cinema with a capacity of over 3,000, and was the largest UK cinema outside London at the time. Standing in a conservation area next to the listed Alhambra Theatre, it closed in 2000 and was sold to developer Langtree to be demolished and replaced with an apartment and office block. The Odeon has been the subject of much controversy over its planned but so far failed demolition, with public support in the form of a 10,000 signature petition and ongoing campaigns for its renovation. In his successful 2012 campaign for Bradford West, George Galloway MP cited the restoration of the Odeon as his number one priority, asking Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene. Architectural historian Jonathan Foyle, actresses Imelda Staunton and Jenny Agutter, and director Michael Winner have all lent their support to the campaign.