Description

LEEDS

SE3033SW BRIGGATE 714-1/78/59 (West side) 22/03/74 Nos.24, 25 AND 26 Time Ball Buildings

GV II*

Houses and shops, now restaurant. Early C19 with elaborate decoration added c1872 (Nos 25 & 26) and c1900 (No.24 and ground floor), restored 1993. Alterations for the firm of J Dyson, watchmaker. Stucco facade, probably slate roof. 3 storeys, 4 windows. Quoins. Nos 25 and 26: 4-pane sashes, in canted bays to first floor; architraves, moulded cornice on console brackets; moulded panels below eaves with raised lettering: 'TIME BALL BUILDINGS'; modillion cornice between large console brackets and surmounted by scrolled finials. Bay windows flank a large pedimented clock case, the face carrying the lettering, 'JOHN DYSON 25 & 26'; elaborate wrought-iron cresting rises above eaves line and includes spiral and palmette motifs as decoration to the overthrow which terminates in a weather vane and frames the shaft and time ball. No.24: added elaborate wooden bay window rises through upper storeys and retains fine curved glass panes at first floor, moulded cornice and small pediment surmounted by small dome topped by a sphere; cantilevered from front of bay is a large clock in frame with ironwork spandrels, letters D & S, TEMPUS FUGIT, and the date, 1865, all surmounted by a figure of Father Time. Ground floor: continuous pilastered shop front, entrances centre and far left. INTERIOR: contains important fittings including ornate panelling, etched missors, counters and shelving plus a mechanism (now relocated) which formerly raised and lowered the window displays, allowing safe storage in the cellar/vaults each night. HISTORICAL NOTE: used by a distiller, saddler and trunk maker, a haircutter and perfumier and a stationer through the C19 until c1869-71 when Boar Lane was being rebuilt and the premises were uninhabited. In 1872 J Dyson, watchmaker, was at No.26; by 1890 the firm occupied the whole of the building. The gilded time ball mechanism was linked to Greenwich and dropped at exactly 1pm each day; this feature, together with the window mechanism, makes Dyson's a rare survival of elaborate Victorian/Edwardian shop innovation and design. (Lingard S, University of Leeds: Index of buildings in Briggate (unpublished thesis)).

Listing NGR: SE3021333361

External Links

• Time Ball Buildings at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17533567

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)