Details
LEEDS
SE2836SW SHIRE OAK ROAD, Headingley
714-1/62/818 (South side (off))
22/12/86 Nos.22A, 22B AND 22C
Arncliffe
(Formerly Listed as:
SHIRE OAK ROAD, Headingley
(South side)
No.22 A, B AND C
including garden walls and
summerhouse)
GV II
House, now flats. Dated 1893. By Francis Bedford. For James
Bedford. Local hard red brick in 5:1 English bond, dressed
stone details, sandstone slab roof.
2 storeys with attics and cellars, 4 bays, entrance bay 2 and
bay 4 project; canted front creates 'butterfly' plan with rear
L-plan single-storey service wing over basement; Jacobean and
local C17 vernacular style.
3 steps up to slightly recessed ribbed board door with
original studs, hinges, latch; segmental arch with incised
lettering: '18 B 93', moulded brick above. Fenestration: all
wooden frames, 2- and 3- light mullion and transom below, 2-,
3- and 4-light mullion above. Ground-floor windows plate
glass, first floor left retains leaded lights. Moulded brick
string at ground-floor sill and lintel and eaves levels; deep
eaves left, entrance and right bays have brick parapet, stone
strapwork panel and ball finials over entrance bay; original
square-section drain pipes with '1893' on heads; stone gable
copings, kneelers, ball finials; tall moulded brick stacks
right and rear left.
Rear: central entrance, basement entrance to right, stair
window above left, canted window right of centre, 2 dormer
windows, left frame altered.
Left return: paired cross windows to ground floor, elaborate
4-light stone oriel with strapwork balustrade above, 2-light
window in gable. Right return: 5-light bay window right, some
rebuilding after demolition of added greenhouse.
INTERIOR: much of the original detailing survives although the
house is divided into flats. Important features include
entrance hall with panelling and light fittings, top-glazed
double doors with carved half-columns opening into stair hall,
(partitioned, the stairs rebuilt in original position), Tudor
fireplace and plaster frieze of roses; ground floor left:
dining room with panelling, wooden fire surround with attached
columns, encased beamed ceiling, 2 large panelled doors with
C17-style iron fittings; butler's pantry to rear of dining
room with corniced ceiling, original cupboards; rear kitchen
with stone surrounds to cooking range recesses, original
timber partitions; front room, right has hidden lighting in
architraves to door and above fireplace. Upper floors not seen
at survey.
A very complete survival of a middle-class Leeds villa of the
1890s, well built and of design quality. An early building by
the important Leeds partnership, for Francis Bedford's family.
James Bedford, a manufacturing chemist with premises on
Kirkstall Road, formerly lived at No.7A Woodhouse Cliff (qv).
The dining room decoration thought to be based on the Plantin
house in Antwerp.
Listing NGR: SE2831036066
