City Centre
Leeds Town Hall
Highlights
Leeds Civic Trust
Blue Plaques Trail
Leeds Civic Trust was founded in 1965 and is an
independent, non-political, voluntary organisation
made up of people who live or work in Leeds and
are keen to promote its improvement. We stimulate
debate about Leeds and promote pride in the city.
 ur Blue Plaques scheme
O Part of the Great George Street site
was set up in 1987 to celebrate
important people, events
and buildings in Leeds.
The scheme is financed by
obtaining sponsorship for
each plaque; without the
generous sponsorship of
individuals, organisations
and businesses the scheme
would not exist.
Leeds Civic Trust has erected
over 170 plaques across the city.
You can contact us at:
Leeds Civic Trust
17-19 Wharf Street
Leeds LS2 7EQ
Telephone:
0113 243 9594
Email:
office@leedscivictrust.org.uk
Cuthbert Brodrick designed this powerful
neo-classical building which remains one
Armitage was born in Leeds in 1916 and
of the largest town halls in the country.
Opened by Queen Victoria in 1858 in a
lavish ceremony, its immense size was
a statement of intent from the thriving
industrial city Leeds had become.
Leeds Civic Hall
Designed in a broadly Palladian style by
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markets
Leeds School Board
In 1876, George Corson won the
competition for the design of this
building and the adjacent Municipal
Building. This plaque recognises the
Leeds School Board, which erected 31
large schools accommodating 19,000
pupils by 1878 – one of the great
achievements of Victorian Leeds.
Leeds General Infirmary (LGI)
was bought in 1862 and famous architect
 Architect Cuthbert Brodrick, who also
Gilbert Scott was asked to design the new
hospital. Flushed with his recent triumph
at St Pancras railway station, Gilbert Scott
LEEDS TOWN HALL
designed the hospital in a similar pseudo-
This greatest of monuments
to Victorian municipal Gothic style. The LGI was completed
government was opened by
Queen Victoria on 7
with wards 1 to 10 in 1868 and opened
September 1858. in May 1869.
Samuel Smiles was an ardent social and
Maurice Ellis
In 1952, Maurice Ellis was appointed as
the first Consultant in the UK in charge of
a Casualty Department at Leeds General
Infirmary. He campaigned vigorously for
improvements to emergency medicine
Find us online: services. In 1962 he published the ‘Casualty
www.leedscivictrust.org.uk Officers’ Handbook’, which ran to three
facebook.com/leedscivictrust
editions in his lifetime and continued to be
@LeedsCivicTrust
widely read thereafter. Hundreds of clinical
students and junior doctors referred to him
affectionately as ‘Father Ellis’.
Kenneth Armitage
became famous for his bronze sculptures.
Having studied at Leeds College of Art,
he went on to create the ‘Both Arms’
sculpture which was inaugurated by Nelson
Mandela and is visible next to his plaque.
Vincent Harris and built by the unemployed
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of Leeds thanks to a government grant.
The Hall includes the Lord Mayor’s rooms,
council chambers and a banqueting hall.
Opened by King George V in 1933,
the Civic Hall effectively replaced Leeds
Town Hall as the city’s administrative
centre. Atop its two towers sit gold leaf
owls, the symbol of Leeds.
AR
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Brodrick’s Buildings
designed Leeds Town Hall, Leeds Corn
Exchange and The Mechanics Institute, is
responsible for the two shops on this site
in unconventional Gothic style.
Samuel Smiles
political reformer. He was, throughout
his life, keen to advance the condition
of the working classes by improving
their education. His famous book, ‘Self
Help: With Illustrations of Character
and Conduct’, was a huge success and
translated into several languages. He is
remembered for his insightfulness and
appreciation of the lives led by the poorest
in society; “A penny is a very small matter,
yet the comfort of thousands of families
depends on the proper spending and
saving of pennies”.
Leeds Grand Theatre
and Opera House
Designed by renowned Leeds architect
George Corson, the Grand Theatre was a
spectacular venue inspired by European
design. The wealthiest of the Victorian
visitors were welcomed through the
main entrance, while those of lower
social classes had to enter through the
building’s more inconspicuous doorways.
The theatre opened with a performance of
S Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’
on 18th November, 1878.
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John Harrison
It celebrates the life of John Harrison, a
prominent woollen cloth merchant and
generous benefactor who provided funding
for this church, as well as Leeds Grammar
School and several almshouses for the
poor. Throughout his life he was concerned
with helping the poor in practical ways.
The church is now redundant but this
fascinating building remains open to
visitors most days.
City Varieties Music Hall
Tucked away down Swan Street is one of
Leeds’ favourite entertainment venues.
The City Varieties has been open almost
continually since 1865, when Charles
Thornton rebuilt his White Swan pub
into a music hall.
Victoria Quarter
This area was originally a mass of narrow
yards, slaughterhouses and butchers’
shops – all redeveloped between 1897-1902.
Famous theatre architect Frank Matcham
designed this beautiful shopping centre
with two streets, two arcades and
the Empire Theatre (now occupied
by Harvey Nichols).
Queen’s Arcade
This arcade occupies the site of the
Rose & Crown Yard. In 1889 the old hotel,
coffee, tobacco and clothes shops were all
swept away to build the arcade shops on
two levels to maximise the space available.
Designed in a quirky novelty style, the
arcade catered more to an upper-class
market and was compared to London’s
Carnaby Street.
The Church Institute
A striking polychrome gothic building
now imaginatively renovated as shops,
restaurants and offices. Originally the
premises provided a lecture hall, library,
reading room and classrooms in order to
extend religious and secular knowledge,
and improve the efficiency of Church
Sunday Schools and Day Schools.
The Leeds Club
This grand Italianate Grade II listed
building was the home of the Leeds
Club from 1852. The plaque details the
comfortable accommodation of this private
club. The exclusive membership list was
comprised of men from both sides of the
political divide and many of no political
affiliation but significant social influence.
Now a stylish cocktail bar, the ‘Lost &
Found’ has retained much of the
Club’s elegant interior.
William Hey’s House
This house was originally built for famous
Leeds surgeon William Hey. Despite the
handicaps of being badly burnt and losing
sight in one eye as a child, he set up his
Leeds practice in 1759 at Slip-Inn Yard
(now Pack Horse Yard) and in 1767 he
was elected surgeon to the newly
founded Leeds General Infirmary –
he founded a medical society
and gave courses on anatomy.
Leeds Library
This is the oldest surviving subscription
library in the UK. Founded in 1768 by 104
local inhabitants, its first Secretary was
English theologian, political theorist and
chemist Joseph Priestley, the man credited
with the discovery of oxygen. It moved
several times during its early years but has
remained at this site since 1808. The library
has a collection of 140,000 books with
about 1,000 new books added each year.
Whitelocks
First opened in 1715 as The Turk’s Head, this
is the oldest pub in Leeds. It was bought
and refurbished by the landlord John
Lupton Whitelock in 1867 and even today
the pub retains a richly decorated Victorian
interior. This was the site of the 100th Blue
Plaque erected in Leeds.
Kirkgate Market
The Market was moved to this location
in 1826 from the original open-air site on
Briggate. Built in 1857, the Market Hall was
made of cast iron and glass with the advice
of Sir Joseph Paxton, creator of The Crystal
Palace in London. The present market hall of
1904 is one of the finest in the country and
is said to be Europe’s largest indoor market.
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markets
Leeds Corn Exchange
Designed and built 1860-1864 by Leeds’
most famous architect, Cuthbert Brodrick.
St Paul’s House
Built in the Moorish style, this was a factory
and warehouse for Sir John Barran, 1878.
He was inspired by the Halle aux blés in He set up as a tailor and devised the
Paris. This is now one of only three Corn band knife to cut many layers of cloth –
Exchanges in the country to still operate in prompting the birth of the mass produced
its original capacity as a centre for trade. ready-made clothing industry. Barran was
the Liberal MP for Leeds 1876-1885
as well as the city’s mayor 1870-1871.
He was knighted in 1895.
Park Square
The Blue Plaque describes the creation
of this lavish housing estate. Planning
began in 1788 and the aim was to create a
fashionable square for wealthy residents.
As Leeds became more industrialised and
John Barran’s factory on the opposite side
of the square was built, the residents moved
away and the houses were taken over for
office space. Today this square is the centre
of Leeds’ legal district; most of the houses
Leeds & County Liberal Club
here are now used as lawyers’ offices.
In the 1880s and 1890s three of Leeds’ five
MPs were Liberals and the Prime Minister,
William Gladstone (who was also a Liberal),
was elected MP for Leeds. This grand red
terracotta building was the meeting place
for those of a Liberal mindset to discuss
the major political issues of the time.
LEEDS & COUNTY LIBERAL CLUB
Hotel Metropole
The pinkish red brick and terracotta used
in the building were made by J.C. Edwards
of Ruabon, Wales. Traditionally this hotel
has catered more for corporate clients,
being located in the centre of the business
district and within a 5 minute walk to
the train station. This Grade II listed
building underwent a £6million
refurbishment in 2005.
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