The Building Stones of Leeds - Part 2

A detail of the frieze sculpture on Abtech House

During my last trip to Leeds in 2018, it was the exploration of its Minster that gave me the idea that, along with the civic buildings on the Headrow, there would be sufficient points of interest in these two key locations to provide the Sheffield U3A Geology Group with a good day out. 

The Building Stone Heritage of Leeds

Having had my ideas confirmed at the January indoor meeting, my next step was to go and take a much better look at Leeds city centre, using The Building Stone Heritage of Leeds – by Francis G. Dimes and Murray Mitchell – as my guide. 

A walk on Park Row

With more than one hundred locations cited, and various others found further afield, I knew that it would take a lot of effort to reorganise this comprehensive booklet into something that might appeal to our Group – within the typical time frame of 5 hours spent out in the field. 

No.1 Park Row

My first day out to reconnoitre Leeds focussed on Park Row, a street that is lined by banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions – past and present - and whose architecture includes ornate Victorian buildings, drab office blocks from the 1960’s and late 20th century multi-storied structures, whose main interest is the granites that have been used for their cladding. 

No. 1 City Square

Having made a note of various buildings on Park Row that I wanted to see, I was disappointed to find that since my guide book was written in 1996, a few of these had been redeveloped. It is also very busy with pedestrians and, having narrow pavements, in many places it is not easy to stop and explain a point of interest to a group that often contains more than 20 people. 

A view north along Park Row

With many of the buildings constructed in Carboniferous sandstone and Portland limestone, good example of which can be seen elsewhere in more easily accessible locations, I decided that I would plan my route to include only the most noteworthy buildings on Park Row, which are found at the northern end near to the Headrow. 

No. 14 Park Row

A particularly unusual stone for northern England, Guiting, is used for the cladding to an otherwise very unremarkable 1960’s office block. This orange Jurassic shelly and oolitic limestone, from Gloucestershire, is not often seen outside the south-west of England and I therefore made the decision to include this on the walk, especially since it can be viewed from across the street where a group would not form an obstruction to passers-by – which also applies to Park Row House. 

Park Row House

One particularly interesting building, Abtech House, is located opposite the cash point of the Royal Bank of Scotland and with no convenient street corners from which to view it; however, its magnificent frieze is the best example of architectural sculpture that I have seen in Leeds and, together with Swedish red granite and Larvikite, just had to be a stopping point on the walk. 

Abtech House

With a wide variety of civic, ecclesiastical and commercial buildings having been identified at opposite sides of Leeds city centre, my next step in the planning was to return to Leeds at another time to further investigate Walks 3 and 4 in the Building Stone Heritage of Leeds, to explore further the commercial quarter and to selectively investigate its shopping centre, which attracts very many visitors to the city.

Historic buildings on the west side of Park Row