Description

LEEDS

SE3033NW VICAR LANE
714-1/76/413 (East side)
08/05/73 City Markets

GV I

Includes: Nos.1-21 NEW MARKET BUILDINGS.
Shown on OS map as Kirkgate Market.
Market hall. 1904, restored late C20. By Leeming and Leeming,
architects; J Bagshaw and Sons of Batley, engineers; secondary
rear ranges c1875. Ashlar and carved stone with granite to
ground-floor pilasters; grey slate roof with lead casing to
domes (some replaced by asphalt), elaborate ridge cresting and
finials; cast-iron internal structure with steel framework
concealed in the masonry.
PLAN: a massive 11-bay structure of 4 storeys and attic, in
Flemish style to street frontage and left (George Street) and
right (Kirkgate) returns; the rear facade plain and obscured
by the earlier secondary market structures, (see below).
EXTERIOR: ground floor: central 2-storey entrance, original
shop divisions remain, No.13 retaining the original glazed
door with scrolled pediment and window with slender glazing
bars; shops divided by pilasters and draped putti supporting
entablature, frieze and cornice. First floor: rounded arch to
5 bays (one to market entrance the other to windows) and the
others with paired casements, ornament includes elaborate
scrolls and figures to spandrels and sculptured frieze,
cornice over.
Second floor: shallow arched heads to paired windows divided
by attached Ionic columns; cartouches to keystones. Third
floor: 3 and 4 light windows, attached Doric columns, cornice
over. Attic storey: walling rises above modillion cornice at
bays 1, 4, 6, 8 and 11 to elaborate sculpted gables with
scrolls and swags framing 3 round-headed lights to centre, the
outer gables having small rectangular windows; 3-light dormers
to steeply-pitched roof; elaborate chimneys and 2 French
mansard roofs with balustrades and finials and a central
Renaissance tiered steeple.
At each end of the front on the same plane is a tower feature
of the same style surmounted by a domed cupola.
Left and right returns: the angles are recessed on the splay
and are canted 1:3:1 windows. 2-storey round-arch market
entrance with balustrade-topped shops to right and left;
Flemish gable at top with large octagonal domed temple with
cupola on roof, facades as main front.
Rear: plaque commemorating the building of the previous (1875)

market on the site is reset in north end at first-floor level,
obscured by scaffolding at time of Review.
INTERIOR: long hall with clerestory, aisles and central
octagon; shops along west and south-west sides (main facade)
have offices and former public rooms on upper floors with
original details including doors, cast-iron fireplaces,
skirting boards, cornices, plaster ceilings; wooden booths or
offices on gallery facing into the hall are reached from
spiral stone staircases which rise from each side of the
corner entrances. These entrances have a giant inner arch of
moulded Burmantofts faience and the inner walls of the
building are lined with glazed bricks. 24 clustered Corinthian
columns, all with brackets decorated with the civic arms and
some with the engineer's plaque, support glazed clerestory and
upper part of central octagon, horizontal ties and beams are
incorporated into decoratively modelled panels and spandrels
which include tripartite blank windows framed with scrolls and
pediments. Cast-iron brackets in the form of dragons support
the mezzanine balcony with ornate rail.
Stalls: most retain original design of slim columns with
spiral moulding and Corinthian capitals supporting entablature
with dentilled cornice and acroteria at the corners. A tall
cast-iron tower with clock by Potts of Leeds which originally
stood in the centre of the hall was removed to Oakwood, the
south boundary of Roundhay Park.
Earlier secondary structure to rear: brick rows, including
Butcher's Row and Game Row, with arcaded decoration to upper
storey open from the main market hall.
The 1904 market replaced the 1875 building where the firm of
Marks and Spencers was established. The new market was a
spectacular addition to the shopping centre of the city which
was transformed during the period 1875-1909, the old
properties being replaced by the arcades and planned streets.
The firm of Leeming and Leeming was responsible for the
Borough Market in Halifax and Oldham Market Hall.
(A History of Modern Leeds, Fraser D (Ed): Grady K:
Commercial, marketing and retailing amenities, 1700-1914:
Manchester: 1980-: 194).

Listing NGR: SE3045033526

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Leeds Kirkgate Market at Wikipedia
• Leeds Kirkgate Market official website
• Wikidata Q11033321

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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