Albion Street to The Headrow in Leeds

 

A Portland stone lion at Leeds Town Hall

Leaving Pack Horse Yard, I headed up Lands Lane and turned left into Albion Place and continued my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge for Leeds at No. 1A, the former east wing of a red brick house that was built in 1795.

 

No. 1A Albion Place

Moving on to Albion Street and walking down to Commercial Street, although not part of my Photo Challenge. I stopped to take a couple of photos of Moorlands House (1852-55), by W.B. Gingell, which is one of less than a dozen buildings that I saw on my exploration of Leeds city centre that is built entirely in stone.

 

Moorlands House

I didn’t look at it closely but, according to the Building Stones Heritage of Leeds (BSHL), it is built with three types of sandstone. The vermiculated plinth is built with the very coarse grained and pebbly Bramley Fall stone from the Rough Rock, the ground floor rusticated blocks and the Venetian windows use sandstone from the Caley Crags Grit, with Rawden Hill stone from the Lower Follifoot Grit used for the two upper storeys and columns.

 

Moorlands House

The adjoining mid C19 Nos. 21-22 Commercial Street is built with sandstone ashlar that appears quite grey in colour compared to the varieties of Millstone Grit used for Moorlands House. It reminds me of the sandstone that I had seen at Morley Town Hall, which is built with Woodkirk Brown sandstone from the Britannia Quarries, where the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation Thornhill Rock is still worked.

 

Nos. 21-22 Commercial Street

 
The next building on my list on Commercial Street was the Grade II* listed Leeds Library (1808), by Thomas Johnson in the Greek Revival style, with alterations by R.D. Chantrell (1821-1836) and Thomas Ambler (1879-81), with further work c.1900.

 

Leeds Library

With no stonework to interest this Language of Stone Blog, I just took a few general record photos and continued to No. 14 (1868), designed by George Corson in the Gothic Revival style. Its triple gables, voussoirs - which are probably Red Mansfield sandstone - and pink Peterhead granite are also seen at Corson’s 17A East Parade, where Elland Flags sandstone is used for the ashlar. 

 

No. 14 Commercial Street

The early C20 Nos 1-3 Lands Lane (1901) by Thomas Winn, which includes Nos. 12 and 13 Commercial Street, is a fine example of the use of alternating buff and red/brown terracotta – a material used extensively in the area when Albion Place was extended to Briggate in 1903.

 

Nos. 1-3 Lands Lane

Turning up Lands Lane, I continued to No. 5 Albion Place (1866-68), which was designed in the Gothic Revival style of c.1300 by Richards Adams and John Kelly as the Church Institute and Sunday School Association. Although also not part of my Photo Challenge, its fine polychrome brickwork and sandstone dressings stand out amongst the surrounding terracotta architecture.

 

No. 5 Albion Place

I continued up Lands Lane until I reached The Headrow, which is dominated on its north side by several large Portland stone and red brick buildings - including Permanent House and Headrow House - by Sir Reginald Blomfield and G.W. Atkinson which were designed 1930-31, with additions in the 1950’s.

 

The Henry Moore Institute

On the corner of the west side of Cookridge Street and The Headrow is the Henry Moore Institute, which the BSHL describes as having cladding of a very dark green granodiorite from Quebec in Canada, which is called Verde Prairi.

 

Athenaeum House

Athenaeum House (c.1890) on the south side of The Headrow, was designed in a Gothic Revival style by William Bakewell, and was scaffolded when I wanted to photograph it during one of my previous Photo Challenges in Leeds. I did not zoom in to photograph them or closely look at the sandstone ashlar, but large robed figures representing the Arts occupy niches between the windows on the second floor.

 

Pearl Chambers

Adjoining Athenaeum House on the corner with East Parade is Pearl Chambers (1911), another building by William Bakewell, which the BSHL describes as using blue/grey Rubislaw granite for the ground floor, with Portland stone used for the upper storeys – one of the very fist uses of this material in Leeds.

 

Nos. 23-25 Great George Street

From here, I crossed over to Leeds Town Hall to look at one of the Portland stone lions, before finishing my Photo Challenge by taking a quick diversion to Nos. 23-25 Great George Street and then ended my day by taking a photo of the front of St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.

 

St. Anne's Roman Catholic Cathedral