Provident Clothing and Supply Company

This squat and robust block on the outskirts of Bradford city centre is formed of three parts that step downwards emphasising the sloping site upon which it sits. The two principal elements contrast in dark and light precast modular facade panels, the light panels are recessed on the tower and the dark ones protrude on the lower podium. Evidently, in the commercial language of the practice in this period, its character resonates with that of the Jacobs Well offices for the local authority and the former HQ for the Provincial Building Society, also in Bradford, both now demolished. Provident, despite their ‘clothing and supply’, provided naught by way of goods. Instead, they lent the finances by which to supply and clothe oneself – a creditor by any other name, begun and headquartered in Bradford from 1880 by a Methodist with moral prospects. By the mid-1960s, the company was buoyant and providing a range of financial services. It regularly acquired other firms and this confidence apparently led to a commission for a new building. Mainstream, fittingly modest, given Provident’s genesis, and perhaps unremarkable, the assembled volumes make a confident group, well-proportioned and well sited. After Provident Financial left the building in 2010, it was proposed to be converted to student residences in 2012. It has since changed hands a few times, but was empty on the day these photographs were taken.