Walter Brierley

Walter Henry Brierley (1862–1926) was a York architect who practised in the city for 40 years. He is known as "the Yorkshire Lutyens". He is also credited with being an exponent of the "Wrenaissance" style - incorporating elements of Christopher Wren.

Between 1885 and 1926 he was responsible for over 300 buildings, including schools, churches, houses and civic buildings, in York, North Yorkshire and across the North. He was the architect for the York Diocese.

His architectural practice lives on as Brierley Groom, the oldest architectural firm in the UK which has continuously practised since 1750.

Brierley Buildings

County Hall, Northallerton, 1914

• Sion Hill Hall
• the Headmaster’s House at King’s Manor, York
• Park Grove School York (1895)
• Fishergate School, York (1895)
• Scarcroft School, York (1896), generally regarded as his masterpiece
• Haxby Road School, York (1904)
• Poppleton Road School, York (1904)
• Brackencliffe, Scarborough (1905)
• Burrough Court, Leicester (1906)
• "Hollins Hill", Accrington (1908) Now known as the Haworth Art Gallery
• An Architects Home, York (1906)
• County Hall, Northallerton (1904–14)
• Malton Grammar School buildings (1911)
• Sion Hill Hall (1913), a private residence near Thirsk in the village of Kirby Wiske. Some similarities with Malton School are evident - the high pitch roof and tall chimneys, for example. The drainpipe is almost identical to the one in Malton School quad. (The white one is on Sion Hill Hall, the black is Malton School.)
• the remodelling of Welburn Hall, north east of York (1880s): the Jacobean west wing was demolished and replaced by a much bigger wing in the gothic style. Brierley's work was extensively damaged in the fire of 1931.
• Goddards, York, on Tadcaster Road, built for the Terry Family in the 1920s (Brierley's last building)
• Clements Hall, York, formerly the hall of St Clements Church, York, 1933
• See images at

See also

• Exhibition celebrating 60 years of York Civic Trust