Abbey Villa

Reasons for Designation

List at Grade II

Details

LEEDS

714-1/0/10057 ABBEY ROAD 23-FEB-06 Abbey Villa

GV II House, now subdivided into two, c.1840, alterations c.1900 and c.1920, former mill manager's house for Abbey Mills. Stone built, partly in squared coursed blocks, partly in thinner coursed blocks and with stone dressings. Two storeys plus basement/cellars, with slate roof and two ridge chimney stacks, one at right end and one central, plus two external stepped stacks along outside of cross wing. PLAN: four bays plus cross wing.

EXTERIOR: Main facade to garden: to left, gabled cross wing projecting slightly, with 2-light mullioned window with horned sashes on each floor plus small blind window in gable. Porch in ashlar to the right of the gable with open round arches to front and side and parapet above. Continuing right, 3-light mullioned window, round-arched stair window and 2-light mullioned window, all with horned sashes. First floor has three 2-light mullioned windows. At basement level as the ground falls away to the right, three small windows, one of which is blocked. There is a string course above the ground floor lintels, and all the windows have cills and lintels but no jambs. Rear elevation: gable wing as front, door to left approached by four steps with large round-arched stair window above, windows irregularly positioned over the rest, all single sashes with stone jambs as well as cills and lintels, and a further entrance through a small square porch. To left as the ground falls away, basement floor becomes the ground floor, with doorway, window, and blocked doorway. Right return from garden front shows scar of former extension at lower level. String course extends round whole of cross wing.

INTERIOR: Entrance through porch with checker board floor tiles, to panelled door set centrally beneath three-centred arch with patterned and stained glass to each side and above, in ashlar surround. Lobby with patterned tile floor and wood and glass screen to hallway, with leaded stained glass and half-glazed door in the centre. Wide hallway with dog-leg stair having turned, column-on-vase balusters and wooden handrail. Stair window to rear with stained glass. Principal rooms to left in cross wing, one now a kitchen, with original doors, skirtings and cornices. Corridor to right (presently blocked as part of division of the house) leading to a third reception room, formerly office, with original skirtings, doors and cornices, and black marble fireplace with modern gas fire inserted. Corridor has moulded ceiling decoration and quarry tiled floor. Former kitchen at far end, now sitting room, with original doors, skirtings and cornices, though former range removed. Former scullery now bathroom. Porch to rear with stained glass window. Servants stair to first floor between former kitchen and third reception room. First floor has four principal bedrooms, one of which has been subdivided to provide a bathroom, all with doors, skirtings and cornices, leading off a broad landing, and further rooms including a toilet with original window, and an original fireplace in one of the bedrooms. There is access to the cellars from both the upper and lower side of the house.

HISTORY:the house was built between 1837 and 1846 to replace an earlier house that had been burnt down in a fire of 1797 which destroyed the associated mill buildings. It was part of the mill complex, serving as the mill owner's house and as an office for the mill. On the 1892 O.S map, another range is shown at an angle to the house on the roadside edge: this had disappeared by 1908 and by 1921 the new gable end had been constructed, along with the porch at the rear. The former extension at the other end of the house was in existence until after 1934. The Abbey Mills complex was purchased by Leeds City Council in 1961 and is let out to tenants.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE Abbey Villa is a stone built nineteenth century mill owner's house, with good survival of original features and is in close proximity to a group of listed mill buildings. It therefore has group value with the other listed buildings and meets the criteria for listing.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

493646

Legacy System:

LBS

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