2-854-321 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Royal Institute Museum, Albion Street, City of Kingston upon Hull, 1941. An exterior view of the Royal Institute Museum, built in 1852 by Cuthbert Brodrick and destroyed by the Hull blitz. The museum was built by Cuthbert Brodrick (b.1821-d.1905) c 1852, with it opening in 1854. The Hull Literary and Philosophical Society was established in 1822 and resided at the museum. In c1941 the department store Thornton-Varley Ltd relocated to the Royal Institue as it's former home had been damaged in the blitz. However, the institute was later bombed, c1943. The front facade had a large Corinthian portico of five bays, and two projecting bays on either side, with fluted columns surrounding the ground floor windows, and capped with a pediment. Above was a balustraded parapet and a central rectangular plinth with a statue, most likely of Britannia, with a spear in her right hand, and two figures reclining under her feet.