Maritime Museum reveals its secrets as part of £12m renovation
TAKING SHAPE: Where the spiral staircase will be. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
By Simon Bristow
Hidden behind a vast array of scaffolding and plastic sheeting in the city centre, a remarkable transformation of one of Hull’s most prized heritage assets is taking place.
The landmark Maritime Museum is now nine months into a 20-month, £12m build project being delivered by leading heritage contractor Simpson.
It is part of the £30.3m Hull Maritime project, which is preserving and transforming the city’s key maritime treasures into a linked series of unique visitor attractions.
Central to it is the Grade II*-listed Maritime Museum, which is undergoing a renovation that will bring it back to its 1870s architectural heyday as a dock office, and establish it as a “world class” visitor attraction.
Reporters were given a preview of the latest developments at the site, while a 50-strong workforce from Simpson and other specialist contractors got on with the job in hand.
In a cabin where visitors were issued with hard hats and high-vis vests were a number of items on display that have been uncovered or taken down for repair by the workforce, including the main cupola’s lightning conductor.
DRAMATIC ENTRANCE: The main staircase. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
The stripped back piece of copper, with some sharp looking spikes at the top, will be returned to the roof and connected to the earth, should the heaven’s do their worst. There is one in each of the three cupolas.
Also on the table in front of us is an antique lead beater and a couple of lump hammers, one of which was found on the second floor and is at least 150 years old. The other was found in a wall, as were some very old newspapers.
These are among the secrets the museum is giving up, and those willing to climb a few ladders were rewarded with an extremely rare view of and from the museum roof, where incredibly ornate figures carved in sandstone reveal in close-up detail the skill of past craftsmen.
They include what looks like a god of the sea looking down over all, a royal coat of arms, and other bits of hand-carved masonry bearing the smoothed edges of surfaces that have been exposed to the elements since the museum was built.
INTERIOR: Much of the museum has been stripped back as part of the work. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
The lead on the roof of the cupolas has been stripped away - and sent away to be smelted down and reshaped before being put back - to reveal the ancient wooden timbers underneath. The wood is Douglas Fir, a native species, Phil Rhodes, the project manager for Simpson, helpfully explains. The wood is being cleaned and preserved, with rotten parts replaced, before the tons of lead are returned.
A neat row of terracotta ridges sits to one side of the scaffolding, waiting to be restored after cleaning.
Inside the cavernous building, which has in places been stripped back to its shell, are a huge liftshaft which will be used to transport visitors to each floor, and just a few feet away an area that will house the museum’s first cafe when it opens early in 2025.
For the fitter and more able, one of the most eye-catching new developments will be a spiral staircase, the foundations of which are now being prepared.
And that is to say nothing of the exhibits - some 50,000 of them - that will be on display, including the skeleton of a juvenile right whale, and a polar bear.
Hull City Council leader Mike Ross, who was also catching up on the site’s progress, said: “For quite some time people have been walking around Queen Victoria Square and seeing all this white sheeting around the building wrapping it up, and you don’t get a sense of what’s going on inside.
“But I’m really pleased to be able to see the progress that has been made and you get a real sense of just how big the project is, and a sense of anticipation and excitement about what it is people will see and be able to enjoy.
EXPERT: Stonemason Daniel Cooper at work. Picture by Neil Holmes Photography
“This museum has been part of the city for 60 years but with all this work taking place they will have a new experience in coming here and get to see so much more about the maritime heritage of the city, and more of the building itself.
“Hull is a maritime city, Yorkshire’s maritime city, and it’s right to recognise that and celebrate that and this museum gives us the chance to do that. It will also be an interactive experience and very much an experience for all the family.”
Simon Green, director of cultural services at Hull Culture and Leisure, said: “Museums are very much of a place and it’s about place-making and talking about Hull and telling its stories. Hull is a port that has a reach around the world and we are still one of the biggest ports in the UK - it’s massive the amount of trade that comes through the port of Hull and it’s about recognising that and celebrating it.
‘LIKE A SEA GOD’: A statue on the museum’s roof
“This is one of the biggest Lottery projects around at the moment and I think it’s likely to be one of the last big local authority and Lottery projects because there’s a squeeze, and that’s the reality.
“We absoultely used the opportunity of 17 [Hull’s year as UK City of Culture in 2017] to give us a huge leg-up and say this city is massively ambitious and this is the vision we have.
“I’ve had colleagues come here and say they are envious of me working here because we get fabulous support from the public and every political party has supported us. It’s a bit of a dream-world to me to be working here and have that support that’s so broad and deep.”
The Hull Maritime project is funded by Hull City Council and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It encompasses the redevelopment of five historic sites in Hull city centre: the transformation of the Grade II* Maritime Museum and Dock Office Chambers, the creation of a new visitor attraction at North End Shipyard and the restoration two historic vessels, Arctic Corsair and Spurn Lightship.