Details
LEEDS
SE23NE OTLEY ROAD, Weetwood
714-1/6/1214 (East side (off))
05/05/75 Spenfield
GV II*
Large house, now offices. 1875-77, extended and altered c1890.
By George Corson. For James Walter Oxley, banker. Local
rock-faced gritstone ashlar laid in diminishing courses,
steeply-pitched slate roofs. Gothic Revival style.
2 storeys with attics and cellars; 3 bays with a 2-bay single,
and 2-storey extension set back on left. Central pointed arch
entrance porch: pink granite columns, shallow relief carving
to spandrels and parapet which includes roundels with date and
initials 'JWO', the monogram repeated throughout the house;
gargoyles to right of entrance, between the moulded string
courses, 3-light window above. Flanking gabled bays have
2-storey 3-light canted bay windows, 2-light attic windows,
quatrefoils, stone copings and bud finials to apex. Large
4-flue stacks flank the central bay, forward of the ridge.
1890 additions set back left: the 3 round-arched windows of
the single-storey approach gallery and steeply gabled billiard
room with canted bay window; on the left return the projecting
fire bay with lancet windows and tall circular stack.
Right return, main range: on left a 2-storey 5-light segmental
bay window with pavilion roof; a projecting gabled bay with
3-light windows, 2-light to attic with quatrefoil and bud
finials, coping and stack to right of this bay; to right,
slightly recessed, a rear wing with 2-light Romanesque-style
window and corner turret with conical roof and ornate finial.
INTERIOR: the vestibule has a glazed entrance screen with
coloured and painted glass (birds, animals, fishes),
polychrome tile floor, moulded and painted ceiling with the
words: 'Welcome the Coming' and 'Speed the Parting Guest'. An
inner screen with paired black marble columns opens into the
top-lit lounge hall: Byzantine-type arches and columns
supporting galleried landing with pierced balustrade (polished
pine throughout), moulded and painted wall tiles, round-arched
architrave, brass brackets and globe wall lights, marble
floor, coffered and painted ceiling, lantern with painted
glass.
The stairs have panelled and fretwork banisters and elaborate
newels with ornate globe lamp standards. 9-panel doors open
into former dining room, morning room, drawing room, library;
the extensive service quarters demolished. Front left (the
dining room, redecorated by Armitage 1888) has marquetry and
printed fabric wall panels in William Morris design; fitted
cupboards and sideboard with leaded glass doors, painted
flower panels, fireplace with inlaid marble hearth, cast-iron
and copper hood, fireback, flanking panels of ?copper painted
in imitation of tiles with scrolled flower pattern, peacock
tail motif in the overmantel; the deep bay window has carved
wooden columns and panelled reveals; frieze of scrolled
flowers in relief, coved ceiling with star pattern, 2 large
brass light fittings with globes, bracket wall lights with
thistle heads.
The front room right (former morning room) now has plain
walls, 4 light brackets, a wooden fire surround carved with
flower and leaf motifs including thistles and roses, a marble
and tiled hearth, moulded plaster ceiling frieze, star-shaped
ventilator panels. The central drawing room, right, is more
ornate, having 6-panel doors, the gold panels painted with
flowers, flanking the fireplace of veined marble and carved
wood, 3 panels, mirror missing, brass scrolled lamp brackets;
buffet with arched niches, side cupboards, wide arched recess
with birds, flowers and fruit on a gold ground in reveals,
large mirror; parquet floor, overpainted embossed wallpaper,
coved ceiling with relief panels painted in gold, green and
red, gold-painted monogram, mottoes, badges.
The added gallery and billiard room is reached from a corridor
with a mosaic floor; a narrow lobby with panelled and glazed
cupboards (?former butler's pantry) opens into the gallery
with marble floor and dado, paired columns between the 3
round-arched windows with painted glass depicting fruit and
grapes, a ribbed vaulted ceiling; used to display the owner's
collection of sculpture and antiquities.
The billiard room has a parquet floor, marble dado, 6-panel
doors with crenellated cornices, 'JWO' monogram; blue-tiled
fireplace with wooden surround and mirrored overmantel in a
deep recess lit by paired windows with fine stained glass:
female figures representing the 4 seasons; moulded coffered
ceiling, panelled top light with coloured glass.
The service rooms opened from the rear left of the hall, much
altered but the black and red tiled floor and service stairs
of 4 straight flights with moulded balusters and ball end
finials survive, also a servants' room with a walk-in corner
store-room with wooden shelves on cast-iron brackets; a
through-room with plain panelled store cupboards, fireplaces
with plain stone surrounds.
The main stairs are lit by a large 6-light window with 2
transoms, the painted glass in Arts and Crafts 'Jacobean'
style has domestic scenes in the lower panels, hunting,
shooting, fishing, football and archery in the middle, and
birds at the top. A service stair opens from the landing rear
left.
The 1st floor originally housed the owner's bedroom, dressing
room and bathroom, 3 other bedrooms, a smoking room and a
guest's bedroom, dressing room and bathroom. Partitioning has
altered the character of the rooms but some original features
survive: the front rooms, left to right, retain 6-panel doors,
fireplace with marble surround, painted and inlaid panels with
sunflowers and wreaths, 2 light brackets, (centre) fireplace
with marble surround, 7 painted tiles with yellow flowers,
fruit; (right) fireplace similar, with 7 tiles painted with
song birds, plaster ceiling cornice and flower frieze. Rooms
on right return also retain 2 fireplaces with carved wood and
marble surrounds and band of 7 tiles painted with fruit. Attic
fireplaces have plain chamfered stone surrounds.
Corson's designs in Moorish style are similar to the Grand
Theatre and Municipal Offices, now public library (qv), which
were built during the period 1877-84; GF Armitage of
Manchester redesigned the former dining room in 1888, this and
other rooms have Arts and Crafts decoration; the approach
gallery and billiard room added 1890.
JW Oxley was the son of Henry Oxley of The Elms, Weetwood
Lane, now Oxley Hall (qv), who was the first Lord Mayor of
Leeds; John became a partner in the bank of William Williams
and Brown, later merged with Lloyds, and a director of the
Midland Railways. He took 'an almost dictatorial interest in
the architectural details of the house and the design of all
the contents' (Mallalieu, 1992, p.88).
(Butler Wilson T: Two Leeds Architects: Cuthbert Brodrick and
George Corson: 1937-: 69; Linstrum D: The Historic
Architecture of Leeds: 1969-: 79; Country Life, 24 September
1992: Mallalieu H: Spenfield, Yorkshire).
Listing NGR: SE2699237568
