12 Market Street, (formerly United Methodist Free Church)
12, Market Street, Wakefield, WF1 1 DH
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1258250
- Date first listed:
- 01-Feb-1979
- List Entry Name:
- 12 Market Street, (formerly United Methodist Free Church)
- Statutory Address:
- 12, Market Street, Wakefield, WF1 1 DH
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-07-16
- Reference:
- IOE01/12309/12
- Rights:
- © Mr Peter Briggs. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1258250
- Date first listed:
- 01-Feb-1979
- List Entry Name:
- 12 Market Street, (formerly United Methodist Free Church)
- Statutory Address 1:
- 12, Market Street, Wakefield, WF1 1 DH
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:
- 12, Market Street, Wakefield, WF1 1 DH
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Wakefield (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 33090 20659
History
The chapel was built by a congregation which had been meeting at the Wakefield Corn Exchange following a series of expulsions in 1849 from the Wakefield Wesleyan Methodists. By 1851 this was the largest Methodist congregation in Wakefield. The foundation stone was laid by William Shaw of Stanley Hall on 2 February 1858 and the chapel was opened on 15 July 1859. It included a gallery and was designed by Leeds architect James Simpson to accommodate 630 people, costing nearly £2374. Following the 1932 Methodist Union the chapel became redundant, closing on 28 July 1935 after which it was sold to the General Post Office, which used the building as a post office and later as a sorting office associated with the neighbouring building. It was subsequently converted into a nightclub.
Details
This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement on 28 March 2024 to amend details in the description, add Historical note and source and reformat the text to current standards
SE 3320 3V
2/196
MARKET STREET (West Side)
No 12
(Formerly listed as Sorting Office (formerly Post Office))
II
Former Nonconformist chapel, 1858 for the United Methodist Free Church, architect James Simpson of Leeds. Sold to the Post Office 1935, converted into a nightclub early C21.
This is a large, classical building with a pedimented five-bay front onto Market Street. Built of red brick with ashlar quoins and dressings, the frontage has four giant Corinthian order pilasters supporting an entablature and the pediment. At first floor, set between the pilasters, are three windows with segmental heads with keystoned architraves rising from an impost stringcourse. To the ground floor there is a central window with a plain architrave and two flanking doorways with segmental pediments, one doorway reduced to a window. The south side elevation (to Albion Court) is of six bays with tall segmental-headed windows to the first floor, similar to the front, and low sash windows with glazing bars below.
Listing NGR: SE3309020659
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 444636
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
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 17-Jun-2026 at 14:56:53.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.