Thorntons Arcade
34 AND 36, LANDS LANE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1255837
- Date first listed:
- 05-Aug-1976
- List Entry Name:
- Thorntons Arcade
- Statutory Address:
- 34 AND 36, LANDS LANE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2003-05-11
- Reference:
- IOE01/09461/12
- Rights:
- © Mr Hans Van Lemmen. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1255837
- Date first listed:
- 05-Aug-1976
- List Entry Name:
- Thorntons Arcade
- Statutory Address 1:
- 34 AND 36, LANDS LANE
- Statutory Address 2:
- 78 AND 80, BRIGGATE
- Statutory Address 3:
- THORNTONS ARCADE, 1-28, THORNTONS ARCADE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- 34 AND 36, LANDS LANE
- Statutory Address:
- 78 AND 80, BRIGGATE
- Statutory Address:
- THORNTONS ARCADE, 1-28, THORNTONS ARCADE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Leeds (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 30217 33693
Details
LEEDS
SE3033NW THORNTON'S ARCADE 714-1/76/398 Nos.1-28 (Consecutive) 05/08/76
GV II
Includes: Nos.34 AND 36 LANDS LANE. Includes: Nos.78 AND 80 BRIGGATE. Shopping arcade. 1877-78. By George Smith for Charles Thornton, carved figures by JW Appleyard of Leeds. Restored 1990-92. Brick, English bond 1:5, stone dressings; decorative slate roof; cast-iron glazed roof to arcade. 3 storeys. Gothic Revival style. A narrow arcade opening from Briggate, the principal facade, and Lands Lane. Briggate facade: high pointed-arch arcade entrance, tall 3-light pointed-arch windows above with pilaster shafts and 'THORNTON'S ARCADE' in raised letters; pavilion over with corbelled and carved cornice and chateau-type roof. Flanking C20 shop fronts, large segmental arch recesses containing 3-light windows, the 2nd floor with pointed arches, carved male heads, cornice and parapet above. Lands Lane facade: painted C20 shop fronts to ground floor flanking central pointed arch, recess above with 2 male heads and 3 tall windows, tall gable with raised letters 'T 1877 A' and a poppy-head finial; flanking bays have 3 windows to first floor and a row of 5 lancets to 2nd floor, pierced balustrade. INTERIOR: the west entrance arch is surmounted by a mechanical tableau of 4 figures from Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Ivanhoe' with clock and bell; cast-iron glazed roof supported by pointed arches with pierced tracery and animal heads. Later C20 shop windows to ground floor, Gothic-style arches to 1st floor, round plaques in the spandrels; pointed sash windows to 2nd floor 'clerestory' level. Charles Thornton was the landlord of the Old Swan Inn off Briggate and built the New Music Hall, later the City Varieties (qv) and Thornton's Buildings, The Headrow (qv). In 1875 he applied to build Thornton's Arcade on the site of the Old Talbot Inn yard and amended plans were approved in 1877. The arcade is the first of this characteristic shopping facility built in the city. (Heap A: The Headrow, a Pictorial record: Leeds: 1990-: 40).
Listing NGR: SE3021733693
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 465596
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Heap, A, The Headrow a Pictorial history, (1990), 40
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 21:24:03.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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