Numbers 1-43 and Cross Arcade
2-42, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1256197
- Date first listed:
- 25-Apr-1974
- List Entry Name:
- Numbers 1-43 and Cross Arcade
- Statutory Address:
- 2-42, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-08-15
- Reference:
- IOE01/02957/34
- Rights:
- © Mr Steve Novak. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1256197
- Date first listed:
- 25-Apr-1974
- List Entry Name:
- Numbers 1-43 and Cross Arcade
- Statutory Address 1:
- 2-42, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET
- Statutory Address 2:
- 65-69, VICAR LANE
- Statutory Address 3:
- 98-103, BRIGGATE
- Statutory Address 4:
- NUMBERS 1-43 AND CROSS ARCADE, 1-43, COUNTY 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:
- 2-42, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET
- Statutory Address:
- 65-69, VICAR LANE
- Statutory Address:
- 98-103, BRIGGATE
- Statutory Address:
- NUMBERS 1-43 AND CROSS ARCADE, 1-43, COUNTY 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 30322 33653
Details
LEEDS
SE3033NW QUEEN VICTORIA STREET
714-1/76/139 (North side)
25/04/74 Nos.2-42 (Even)
GV II*
Includes: Nos.98-103 BRIGGATE.
Includes: Nos.1-43 and Cross Arcade (northern section) COUNTY
ARCADE.
Includes: Nos.65-69 VICAR LANE.
2 arcades with shops and offices. 1898-1900, restored 1989-90.
By Frank Matcham. For the Leeds Estates Company Development.
Pink brick and Burmantofts terracotta, cast-iron, slate and
lead roof.
3 storeys and attic, 7 bays to Briggate, 5 bays to Vicar Lane,
bay 4 being the round-arched arcade entrance on each facade;
shops in same style on right return (Queen Victoria Street)
have a Cross Arcade entrance between Nos 24 & 26.
Freely styled and richly decorated facades with moulded tiles
in the form of swags, strapwork scrolls and plaques.
Ground-floor windows restored 1989-90, large 3-light
first-floor shop windows, sashes to 2nd floor; elaborate attic
storey above corniced eaves has Dutch gables and corner
towers. Arcade entrances have an elaborate wrought-iron
overthrow with lettering: '1900/ County Arcade', and '1900/
Cross Arcade'; the date and words repeated on the Vicar Lane
facade in terracotta above ribbons and swag.
INTERIOR: the same style with even more elaborate detailing
than the exterior; T-plan arcade with a short access arm
(Cross Arcade) to Queen Victoria Street; ornate cast-iron
segmental-arched roof trusses, first-floor balconies with
elaborate cast-iron balustrades and stone ball finials
supported on columns and pilasters of Sienna marble between
shop fronts with curved glass windows; 3 glazed domes with
mosaics in the pendentives: those at east and west ends being
female heads with titles, 'Liberty', 'Peace', 'Commerce',
'Justice' etc., and over the crossing full figures
representing aspects of local industries including textiles.
Late C20 restoration includes flooring, with a fine circular
mosaic with fruit and flower motifs by J Veevers;
reconstruction of marble pilasters between shops in artificial
materials, 2 bridges across the arcade at east end and south
branch, and lighting.
Part of the overall design by Frank Matcham for the rebuilding
of part of the oldest district in the city, this being the
northern section. The architect was a designer of music halls
and theatres; the central dome is thought to have been
inspired by the 1865 Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan.
The most ornate example of a characteristic form of Leeds
architecture which developed from the glazing of rear yards in
the early C19; Thornton's Arcade (qv), 1877-78, on the west
side of Briggate was the first true arcade.
(Dixon, R & Muthesius, S: Victorian Architecture: 1978-: 140).
Listing NGR: SE3042833667
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 465185
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Dixon, R, Muthesius, S, Victorian Architecture, (1978), 140
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 06-Jun-2026 at 13:56:23.
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