Ars Coelum Est

Anybody speak Latin?  I'm not exactly sure what this phrase means... Art is Heaven?  or Heaven is art, maybe? (You can tell I failed Latin O-level, can't you?) Anyhow, this is the motto that greets visitors and students entering the Exhibition Building in Saltaire. Named after the great Jubilee Exhibition that Titus Salt Jnr masterminded in Saltaire for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, the building was paid for from the proceeds, after it was decided that Saltaire needed an expansion of its educational facilities.  It still forms part of Shipley College and the large hall at its centre provides useful exhibition space even now, for various community and college events.  I think this mosaic floor will be original to the building, which was opened in 1887.

Hidden corner

This charming corner is normally hidden from view, except to students and staff at Shipley College.  It's tucked away in the gardens attached to the Exhibition Building. These gardens and some of the allotments across the road are tended by students studying horticulture. (It's where the TV celebrity gardener and novelist Alan Titchmarsh began his training.)  The gardens were open to the public during the recent Saltaire Festival's Open Gardens weekend. In the background is the long south frontage of Salts Mill.

The Exhibition Building

Just a few yards up Exhibition Road from where I took yesterday's picture, you arrive at the entrance to Shipley College's Exhibition Building. This was originally known as 'the New Schools of Art and Science'. The Schools of Art and Science housed in the Institute (now the Victoria Hall) proved so successful that by the mid-1880s more space was needed and the Salt School governors, with the encouragement of Titus Salt Junior, decided to build an additional facility behind the Institute. Money was raised by holding the Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition, opened by Princess Beatrice (Queen Victoria's daughter) on 6 May 1887, in the building and on the surrounding land. The building is less ornate than Saltaire's other public buildings and it lies just outside the designated World Heritage Site. Neverthless it is a pleasing building and still serves well as one of the bases of Shipley college.

The Exhibition Building holds most of the Saltaire Archive - a unique collection which includes books, newspapers, Salt family memorabilia, photographs, maps, plans, illustrations etc. on the history and present development of Saltaire. It is available to view by appointment and will also be open to the public during August this year: from 2 to 13 August 10am-4pm Monday to Friday.

Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition

Looking in the opposite direction from where I took yesterday's photo, you see this view. You can see the Victoria Hall tower in the distance. The large building behind the hedge is Shipley College's Exhibition Building, which was built by Sir Titus Salt's son Titus Salt Junior in 1887, and first used as the village's School of Art and Science.It is named after the Royal Yorkshire Jubilee Exhibition, held in Saltaire in 1887. The Exhibition was mounted in honour of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and to raise funds for the expansion of the educational facilities in Saltaire. It covered a 12 acre site behind the Victoria Hall, running as far as what is now Baker Street. It was opened by Princess Beatrice (Queen Victoria's youngest daughter), the then Princess Royal, on 6 May 1887. With numerous exhibition halls, a concert hall that seated 3000 people and housed a huge pipe organ, a bandstand, cafe and outdoor pleasure grounds that apparently included a toboggan run, it must have brought plenty of visitors into Saltaire. Victoria Road (just beside what is now the shop 'Magic Number 3') was graced by an enormous triumphal arch!