When I first moved over to Bradford armed with my trusty Olympus E500 and a vague idea I did this place and a year or so later I have taken people round it. It was one of the last places I tried to get in with Solomon before he passed but unfortunatly it was locked up. I knew it would become available again one day as all buildings do but this time I have a better camera and it seems to have fallen off the radar for the derpologists.
Getting in was a reminder of why I enjoy this as it was a bit sketchy and inside it has really gone downhill since I was last in there back in 2009.
History
Corner site with Cape Street. The Conditioning House was built by the Corporation on continental precedents to check and control the moisture content of textiles by means of laboratory examination and certify their true weight and length. It is the only one of its kind in this country. The service was established in 1887 and the Conditioning House was purpose built 1900-02 by the city architect F E P Edwardsto the designs of F Wild who died in 1901. The building is erected on 4-storeys and basement around 3 sides of an open court. Restrained detailing with elements of the Queen Anne style.
Sandstone "brick" with ashlar dressings, ashlar ground floor and vermiculated rustication to the basement, ie in the warehouse tradition giving emphasis to the lower storeys. Centrepiece to Cape Street with pedimented blind attic and ball finials, flanking pilaster strips and pilastered portal with ornate east iron gates. The canted corner with Canal Road is similarly treated and the return elevation is a long, plain range with 2 segmental pedimented blind attic features.
