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THERE are few more pleasant ways to spend a Sunday morning in Bradford than strolling through the quiet streets of Little Germany, with the glorious sound of the cathedral’s 12 bells drifting across the rooftops of the sandstone warehouses and counting houses.
For anyone who loves old Bradford and its architecture, this compact grid - lying just beyond the city centre - presents one of the most remarkable surviving mercantile quarters in northern England.
It contains some 85 historic buildings, 55 of them listed, preserving the character of a city that once traded confidently with Europe and the wider world.
From the 1830s onwards, Bradford attracted merchants from the German states and German-speaking Europe, among them a significant number of Jewish merchants drawn by the city’s expanding textile trade. They established businesses in what became Little Germany, bringing commercial connections that stretched far and wide.
They needed warehouses, offices and showrooms from which to buy, sell, finance and distribute cloth. Their firms were part of the network that connected Bradford’s manufacturers with buyers, agents and markets across Europe and beyond.
By the middle of the 19th century, Bradford had become one of Britain’s great centres of the worsted trade. New machinery, improved transport and expanding overseas markets transformed an industry that had begun generations earlier. The merchants of Little Germany operated the commercial side of this transformation, buying and selling, helping to turn the product of Bradford’s numerous mills into an international trade.
Most of these elegant buildings were constructed between about 1855 and 1890, faced in the warm local sandstone so characteristic of Bradford. Many adopted the Italianate style then associated with prosperous commercial architecture. Substantial and carefully detailed, they projected stability and success.
Behrens Warehouse has been turned into an apartment building
Among the most impressive is Behrens’ Warehouse on East Parade, built in 1873 for SL Behrens & Co. Designed by the Bradford architects Milnes and France, it is a masterpiece of commercial Italianate architecture. Behind its ashlar façade- complete with a columned portico and tall windows angled for daylight textile inspection - lay a fireproof internal structure of cast-iron columns and jack-arched floors.
The prominent merchant behind the firm’s rise, Sir Jacob Behrens, arrived in England from Bad Pyrmont, near Hanover, and built one of Britain’s largest textile firms. He was also a renowned philanthropist and education reformer who helped establish Bradford Technical College before being knighted by Queen Victoria in 1882.
Elsewhere, the buildings are smaller but no less imposing. At 14 Chapel Street, rustication, arched windows, pilasters and a strong cornice give the sandstone façade its restrained Italianate character. Numbers 36-38 Chapel Street form a larger warehouse and office block, while 46 Peckover Street provides an intriguing exception, incorporating Scottish Baronial influences. Together, they embody a moment when commerce, architecture and civic ambition were closely intertwined.
Another German family, the Mosers, became prominent in local commercial life, linking Bradford to continental markets when international trade depended heavily on personal relationships and correspondence. Jacob Moser became Bradford’s first Jewish Mayor, while his wife Florence was a pioneer of early-years’ childcare and helped fund Bradford Royal Infirmary. Like the Behrens, the Mosers became part of Bradford’s civic life, contributing to local institutions, charities and public affairs.
Beyond their civic legacy, these cosmopolitan families enriched Bradford’s cultural life. They founded the Bradford Schiller-Verein - a social and literary institute in Rawson Square, named after the poet Friedrich von Schiller that served as the cultural hub of German émigrés - and helped finance the construction of St George’s Hall, in 1853, providing a venue for concerts, lectures and public events. Another merchant with offices in the district was Julius Delius. His son, Frederick, born in Bradford in 1862, became the composer whose life and career unfolded largely beyond Britain.
The relationship between Little Germany and Bradford Cathedral is particularly evocative. Much of the area on which the district developed was originally glebe land belonging to the church. As the commercial quarter grew, warehouses and offices rose close to the cathedral, creating the striking architectural juxtaposition that remains today of the mediaeval church surrounded by the sandstone fabric of 19th century commerce.
Bradford Cathedral - the Medieval church that Little Germany was built around
Little Germany also has a prominent place in Bradford’s political history. On Peckover Street, a plaque marks the former Labour Institute where the inaugural conference of the Independent Labour Party was held in 1893, another hugely significant chapter to the history of the area.
Labour Party mural on the wall of Bradford Playhouse, Little Germany
Sadly, the prosperity that created Little Germany didn’t last. During the 20th century, the textile industry faced profound changes, international competition increased and manufacturing declined, leaving many buildings without their original purpose. They remained, however, adapted for offices, homes, studios and cultural activities. The sandstone façades, tall windows, loading entrances and architectural details are still with us to testify to the world that produced them. Look up at the sheer scale of the buildings, note the carved stone, the solidity of warehouse doors and Italianate façades. This is Little Germany - a gem that still carries the imprint of the European world of which Bradford was once a vital part.