Description

LEEDS

SE2933NE THE HEADROW
714-1/75/389 (North side)
11/04/95 Nos.44-72 (Even)
Permanent House and Headrow
Buildings

GV II

Shop and office building. 1930-31 and 1955. Overall design by
Sir Reginald Blomfield and GW Atkinson. Portland stone and red
brick, slate roof. Classical style.
4 storeys, stepped 4-part 27-window facade to The Headrow,
left 9-window return of 1930 and a further 11-window addition
of 1955 to Cookridge Street and right 4-window return to
Albion Street.
Ashlar corner bays, rusticated ground floor, round keyed
arches to slightly projecting entrance bays, tall shop windows
to Nos 44-60, ground-floor windows to Nos 70 & 72 altered
later C20. Rectangular windows with metal frames, ashlar
architraves to first floor and entrance bays, segmental
pediments, swags, panelled and balustraded parapet, urns. A
tall carriage arch surmounted by columns in antis, entablature
and parapet links the 2 parts of the building over Cross
Fountaine Street. Rear, Nos 50-60: giant metal-framed windows
with decorative panels to upper floors.
INTERIOR: Headrow Buildings; fine original fittings include
tiled walls to corridors, marble-lined stairs, with
wrought-iron balustrade and brass handrails, service rooms,
brass window catches, black and white stone floors.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the building on the corner with Cookridge
Street was opened on 15 May 1930 as the headquarters of the
Leeds Permanent Building Society (founded 1848); the uphill
range, with corner to Albion Street, was opened on 3 December
1931 by Mr Charles Lupton, chairman of the Leeds Corporation
Improvements Committee; a plaque in the entrance records the
event. The latter consisted of 9 shops and 89 offices used by
the Leeds Electricity Department, Inland Revenue, and
Cadbury's. A photograph taken in 1955 (Heap, p.17) shows the
western half of the Cookridge Street range under construction.
(Heap, A: The Headrow, a pictorial record: Leeds: 1990-: 17,
23).

Listing NGR: SE3002033807

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• The Light at Wikipedia
• The Light official website
• Wikidata Q7747241

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings