Old Hall Part of Devonshire Hall of Residence University of Leeds

Details

LEEDS

SE2835NE CUMBERLAND ROAD, Headingley 714-1/65/738 (West side) Old Hall, part of Devonshire Hall of Residence, University of Leeds

GV II

Formerly known as: Regent Villas CUMBERLAND ROAD Headingley. Pair of semi-detached houses, now university hall of residence offices and meeting rooms. Mid C19. Coursed squared hammer-dressed gritstone and ashlar, slate hipped roof. The houses are back-to-back in plan, 2 storeys with basement and attics, having entrances on the S and N sides, the latter altered when a link was built with Devonshire Hall. The unaltered S side is of 6 bays with the entrance in the projecting hipped bay 4: glazed door with 2 panels and plain fanlight in a moulded keyed surround; heavy console brackets support a deep cornice and pierced entablature with a pattern of alternate large and small roundels which is repeated on 1st-floor sill bands and a parapet on the N side. Fenestration: 2, 3 and 4 round-arched lights in moulded architraves to ground floor; 2 and 3-light square-headed windows to 1st floor. Bracketed eaves, the left 2 bays have a separate hipped roof; gabled dormer right, tall moulded stacks to left and right rear of ridge. The rear (N) side is similar but with an added projecting bay to right of the entrance which provides a basement and large music room; round-arched lights to ground floor. The E, garden front is of 3 bays with 1:3:1 windows, the outer hipped-roof bays project. 3 evenly-spaced moulded ashlar stacks forward of ridge on centre bay; to rear of ridge the 2 wooden lanterns which light the stair wells have eaves brackets and pyramid roofs. W side: former service entrances with steps, centre, the outer bays project. INTERIOR: the N house has fine detailing which includes: a painted glass panel in the W window of the former lobby with coat of arms and the motto 'INTER.CRUCES.TRIUMPHANS.IN.CRUCE'; inner double doors, margin lights and overlight, all with fine engraved glass panels; a polychrome tile floor, probably Minton; hall walls lined with marble panels; marble architraves; 4-panel doors; a triple-arched doorway into the Fenton Room, right, with marble columns, double 6-panel doors and margin lights; a wooden staircase of 3 straight flights with alternate wide and slender vase balusters and broad moulded handrail; the staircase walls lined with richly patterned moulded tiles to dado rail; possibly original

moulded wallpaper, overpainted. The Fenton Room has a fireplace of veined brown marble with attached moulded columns. Built as Regent Villas (probably Nos 3 & 4), with another pair of houses and a gate house, all now part of the Devonshire Hall complex. Possibly designed by John Child, the earliest Directory entry for the group is 1872 when Mrs Mary Dickinson, Joseph Dickinson Thorp (corn miller), Mary Ann Thorp, Charles Ryder (brewer), and John Whiting (Manchester warehouseman) were residents. The 1890 Ordnance Survey map shows the layout of drives from the gatehouse to each entrance, and the route around the S and W sides of the grounds to the coach house (qv). By 1894 the residents were: Henry Paterson, flax spinner, John Shephard, machine tool maker, George Dalton, machine maker, Charles Dennison Heaps, lead merchant, and Mrs Sarah Marsden. (Directories of Leeds for 1872 and 1894: Porter, White).

Listing NGR: SE2868935848

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

466220

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Porters Directory in Leeds, (1872)
White Directory in Leeds, (1894)

End of official list entry

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