Our History

Winestead Hall, demolished 1936

Distressed by the demolition of the early-18^th century Winestead Hall, and spurred on by a speech from Lord Derwent in the House of Lords in December 1936 calling for the preservation of Georgian buildings, Rupert Alec-Smith, then only 23 years old, took action that led to the formation of the Georgian Society for East Yorkshire. The society held its first Executive Committee meeting in Hull on Wednesday 2 June 1937, two days before the national Georgian Group held its inaugural meeting in London.

Thanks to Rupert Alec-Smith the society recruited a formidable committee that included, amongst others, Lt Col John Dunnington-Jefferson, then Chairman of the East Riding County Council, Basil Reckitt of Reckitt & Colman, two local MPs, and two architects, Joseph H. Hirst, designer of the City Hall, and the young Francis Johnson from Bridlington, who was to play a key role in the society. A Beverley branch was soon formed with the artist Fred Elwell as chair, and his wife Mary as treasurer. The founding of the independent York Georgian Society in 1939, also owed much to Rupert Alec-Smith.

There were many battles fought by the Georgian Society for East Yorkshire in its early years. Country houses and the large ‘suburban’ villas of Hull merchants were often empty or converted, unsympathetically to flats, whilst a scheme to widen the High Street, in the Old Town threatened the future of many fine buildings. The situation was exacerbated in Hull by the impact of the Second World War, bomb damage resulting in demolition rather than restoration of grand Georgian houses, particularly those to the north of Wilberforce House and at the east end of George Street. The society led the way in listing buildings of architectural and historic importance in Hull and the East Riding and actively opposed the demolition of some of the region’s best country houses including Howsham, Dalton and Boynton Halls.

The society’s greatest successes were the saving, and restoration of Maister House and Blaydes House on the High Street, Hull. In both cases the houses were initially acquired by the Georgian Society, achieved by the intervention, and funds, of Rupert Alec-Smith, who persuaded the National Trust to take on Maister House. The society itself funded the restoration of Blaydes House, later sold to the University of Hull for £1.

For a full account of the history of the society and its many activities see A. Redman and D. Neave, Georgian Architecture and The Georgian Society for East Yorkshire (2014) obtainable from the society see Resources: Publications by the Society.