Description

LEEDS

SE3033NW THORNTON'S ARCADE
714-1/76/398 Nos.1-28 (Consecutive)
05/08/76

GV II

Includes: Nos.34 AND 36 LANDS LANE.
Includes: Nos.78 AND 80 BRIGGATE.
Shopping arcade. 1877-78. By George Smith for Charles
Thornton, carved figures by JW Appleyard of Leeds. Restored
1990-92. Brick, English bond 1:5, stone dressings; decorative
slate roof; cast-iron glazed roof to arcade. 3 storeys. Gothic
Revival style. A narrow arcade opening from Briggate, the
principal facade, and Lands Lane.
Briggate facade: high pointed-arch arcade entrance, tall
3-light pointed-arch windows above with pilaster shafts and
'THORNTON'S ARCADE' in raised letters; pavilion over with
corbelled and carved cornice and chateau-type roof. Flanking
C20 shop fronts, large segmental arch recesses containing
3-light windows, the 2nd floor with pointed arches, carved
male heads, cornice and parapet above.
Lands Lane facade: painted C20 shop fronts to ground floor
flanking central pointed arch, recess above with 2 male heads
and 3 tall windows, tall gable with raised letters 'T 1877 A'
and a poppy-head finial; flanking bays have 3 windows to first
floor and a row of 5 lancets to 2nd floor, pierced balustrade.
INTERIOR: the west entrance arch is surmounted by a mechanical
tableau of 4 figures from Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Ivanhoe'
with clock and bell; cast-iron glazed roof supported by
pointed arches with pierced tracery and animal heads. Later
C20 shop windows to ground floor, Gothic-style arches to 1st
floor, round plaques in the spandrels; pointed sash windows to
2nd floor 'clerestory' level.
Charles Thornton was the landlord of the Old Swan Inn off
Briggate and built the New Music Hall, later the City
Varieties (qv) and Thornton's Buildings, The Headrow (qv). In
1875 he applied to build Thornton's Arcade on the site of the
Old Talbot Inn yard and amended plans were approved in 1877.
The arcade is the first of this characteristic shopping
facility built in the city.
(Heap A: The Headrow, a Pictorial record: Leeds: 1990-: 40).

Listing NGR: SE3021733693

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26547394

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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