Summary

Former Leeds charity school and St John's Parish Rooms, of 1815-1816.

Description

Former Leeds charity school and St John's Parish Rooms, of 1815-1816.

Formerly listed as: MARK LANE (north side) Parish room south-west of St John's Church and Age Concern premises south-west of Church of St John.

MATERIALS: ashlar, slate roof, square leaded lights.

PLAN: rectangular on plan.

EXTERIOR: the building occupies the corner of Wade and Mark Lane. It is a wide gabled block predominantly single storey but with a two-storey single bay at the west end (facing Wade Lane). It is constructed of ashlar, with a plinth, stone tracery windows, a moulded cornice and parapet, a pitched slate roof and a stone stack straddling the ridge west of centre. All the windows and doors have hoodmoulds with label stops. The west elevation (now - 2021 - the main elevation) facing Wade Lane is of three bays. The ground floor has a pointed arch doorway (which is the former entrance to the school mistress’s accommodation) set left of a central square-headed tracery window of three pointed lights and a pointed arch tracery window of two lights. The first floor has three pointed arch windows, the outer two of which are single-light windows which embrace a central tracery window of two lights. The right return (south) facing Mark Lane is of three unequal bays. The two eastern bays have a large square-headed tracery window of three-lights and the western bay has a small square headed single-light window. The left return (north elevation – the former main entrance to the school) is hidden by a C21 two-storey extension but it is of six bays. The three eastern bays each contain a large square-headed window which match the south elevation (the easternmost window now altered to a doorway), whilst the three western bays contain a flat lintel doorway (the former school entrance) set left of two pointed arch tracery windows containing leaded lights. The east elevation is single storey and has a large five-light pointed arch window with intersecting tracery and square leaded lights.

INTERIOR: a C21 mezzanine has been inserted into the double height school room and the school mistress’s accommodation converted to offices.

History

A charity school was founded in Leeds by Dr John Killingbeck, vicar of Leeds, and established by subscription in 1705. In 1726 the school relocated from a workhouse to a converted chapel belonging to Harrison’s Almshouses on this site, and in 1816 adapted to become a girls’ school training 80 students, from twelve years old, for domestic service (which conformed to early National School guidelines). Between 1815 and 1816 a new building was erected for the school, at a cost of £1,000, with a double height school room to the east and two-storey accommodation for the school-mistress to the west. The school became known as St John’s Charity School but, following the relocation of the school function elsewhere around 1882, became the the St John’s Parish Room. It is now (2021) commercial premises.

Reasons for Listing

The former Leeds charity school and St John's Parish Rooms, 1815-1816, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* for the quality of the Gothic Revival design;
* for the retention of its overall plan form, divided between a double height school room and two-storey school mistress’s accommodation.

Historic interest:

* as a charity school, rebuilt and adapted to conform to National School guidelines, which captures the evolution of national education in the early to mid-C19.

Group value:

* the former school benefits from a spatial group value with the listed Church of St John and its church boundary wall.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26655974

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.

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