Details
LEEDS
SE2933 CANAL WHARF
714-1/35/81 (North side)
05/08/76 No.27
Former Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Company warehouse
(Formerly Listed as:
CANAL WHARF
Warehouse, Leeds and Liverpool
Canal, Docks and Inland Waterways
Executive)
GV II*
Warehouse. c1776, interior remodelled mid/late C19 with added
gantry and slate-roof canopy and block to west. Converted
1994-95. Main block by Robert Owen, engineer for the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal Company. Coursed squared stone, graduated
stone slate roof, gable copings.
4 storeys, 6 first-floor openings, quoins. South front, to
road: symmetrical facade with added projecting central glazed
entrance having overhanging hipped roof with glazed "gantry
tower" above in front of original entrance with quoined
surround, 3-light flat-faced mullion windows flank outer
loading doors which are segmental-arched with quoined jambs to
ground and first floors, and are narrower, with stone lintel
and tie-stone jambs to 3rd floor; a lunette window above.
Inserted doors far left, loading door reduced to window to
right, inserted window top right. A projecting band at each
floor level steps down from the outer to the inner bays and is
carried round the entire building.
Rear, to canal: 5 first-floor original openings with 4
inserted windows (1994), the original 1st and 4th being tiers
of loading doors above ground-floor level, some reduced to
windows as front; boarded dormer in centre of roof. Left
return: lower part obscured by later block, but interior
examination showed that the openings were similar to right.
Right return: a tier of 4 loading doors, segmental arches,
quoined jambs, the upper storeys reduced to 3-light windows or
as built; circular window with keyblocks in gable, 3-light
window to ground floor, right, and inserted door to left.
Added block to left: single storey, central loading doors from
road, now glazed, and to canal where there are low 2-light
flat-faced mullion windows with 3rd blocked and partially cut
through with full-height loading door, now a window; paired
gutter brackets, hipped roof to right; also stands over the
canal with end barge opening to left converted to window and 2
inserted doors and added small lean-to to right.
INTERIOR: inserted brick staircase to all floors to left of
entrance; upper floors supported on 2 rows of cast-iron
columns with fire-proof brick arches; mullions chamfered on
inside; canal extended within the building; massive timber
roof structure composed of cross beams supporting queen posts
clasping a collar, X-braces and 6 rows of purlins.
Probably built as a warehouse for a variety of goods including
cloth and agricultural products, the building is associated
with Benjamin Gott's wool processing factory in the early C19.
The mid/late C19 interior remodelling was designed to give a
safer fire-proof construction: the timber floors were replaced
by brick vaults supported on iron columns and beams.
The loading doors and proportions of the building are similar
to the brick warehouse at Nos 40 & 42 The Calls (qv); the use
of circular and lunette windows was also a feature of the
important Marshall Mill, Marshall Street (qv) and was probably
taken from C18 country house stables and farm buildings.
An important survival from the extensive range of buildings at
the end of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at its junction with
the River Aire and close to the boundary (Leeds Bridge, Bridge
End (qv)) of the Aire and Calder Navigation. Similar
warehouses are reputed to stand along the Rochdale Canal at
Todmorden and at Dale Street, Manchester.
(Brears, P: The Museum of Leeds Trail; Parker, A: Leeds Canal
Basin (booklet): 1988-).
Listing NGR: SE2984033030