was persuaded to advise the Town Hall Committee in their judging, which gave the competition considerable status. Premiums of £200, £100, and £50 were awarded to the first, second and third-placed entrants. Only sixteen entries were received, which was fewer than expected, perhaps due to combination of the small prize amounts and the Council's non-commitment to employing the winning architect. Entries were anonymised and entered under noms de plume for impartiality. A design entered under the name "Honor alit Artes" was recommended by Charles Barry, and the contract was revealed to have been won by Cuthbert Brodrick, a young architect from Hull who was unknown outside his home town. He had travelled extensively in Europe in 1844–45 and acquired a love for its classical architecture. He was only twenty-nine when he won the competition for the Town Hall, but later designed some of Victorian Leeds's noted landmarks – the Corn Exchange, Mechanics' Institute and Cookridge Street Swimming Baths. Second place in the competition was given to the partners Henry Francis Lockwood (under whom Brodrick had trained) and William Mawson, who had designed St George's Hall, Bradford in 1849, and later went on to build Bradford City Hall from 1869. The major elements of Brodrick's design used a distinctly Roman style, quite different from any of the others submitted, which used a strong entrance colonnade and rectangular plan, and took inspiration from French buildings of recent decades. Barry may have been attracted to its rationality, order, and logic. His first design included recesses on its east and west sides, but this was soon updated with extra offices, resulting in a commanding rectangular mass. The Town Hall Committee initially had reservations after selecting Brodrick, mostly relating to his youth, and asked Barry for confirmation of Brodrick's abilities in the construction of such a large building; Barry responded with high praise: that he was "fully satisfied that the Council might trust [Brodrick] with the most perfect safety", and that "a building constructed according to these plans would be the most perfect gem out of London". Unlike most assessors, Barry continued to show an interest in Brodrick and the progress of the Town Hall under construction. Next, the Committee took the unusual step of insisting in a clause in Brodrick's contract stating that he would receive no payment beyond that of the accepted estimate of £39,000 if the work costs exceeded it. Brodrick agreed