PLANS to remove garish modern signage from a listed Bradford building, and fit a more traditional frontage, have been submitted to planners.

The application to restore the front of the furniture store at the corner of Peel Square and Lumb Lane says the proposal was prompted by an enforcement notice issued by the Council.

The building is part of the Eldon Close Conservation Area – and forms one end of the grand row of homes known as Peel Square.

The square was built in the 1850s and is Grade II listed as well as being a key part of the Conservation Area.

The building subject to the planning application is currently a carpet and furniture store, and although it has had signage for some time, in the past year the frontage has been transformed.

Currently much of the Lumb Lane side of the building is covered with modern signage – including large photos of furniture. Some of these block the building’s windows.

The wooden framed doors and windows have been replaced with aluminium frames.

A planning application has been submitted by Mazher Iqbal for the replacement of existing aluminium doors with timber doors and windows, including the reinstatement of stone detailing to the front.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: The building as it looked before the new signs, doors and windows were installed (picture from 2017)The building as it looked before the new signs, doors and windows were installed (picture from 2017) (Image: Google)

It also calls for the removal of the existing sign boards to the front and the installation of more traditional sign boards to the front and side elevations.

The application says the unauthorised frontage was installed in April last year.

It adds: “The proposal includes the replacement of existing aluminium doors to timber and the removal of existing sign boards and adding additional signs. An enforcement notice has been issued as unauthorised work has been carried out.

“The existing aluminium doors will be removed and replaced with timber doors, similar to the original, the stone lintel would be built back up to its original design. Some of the existing signs will be removed and similar sign boards will be added to both side elevations.”

A decision on the application is expected in July.

The Eldon Place Conservation Area highlights why this area of the city is deemed worthy of protection, describing it as “an area of classical and Italian style mid-19th century housing built for the middle classes.”

It says in the mid 20th Century the area suffered due to the decline of textile factories and the closure of Manningham Rail Station.

But it adds: “Eldon Place area remains attractive and suburban in character and is a key part of Bradford’s industrial legacy.”

The most recent appraisal of the Conservation Area – carried out in 2007, claimed one of the weaknesses of the Conservation Area was that: “Shop fronts are detracting from the conservation area with the use of oversized fascias and roller shutters.”