Description

LEEDS

SE2835NW HEADINGLEY LANE, Headingley
714-1/64/769 (South West side)
05/02/87 No.53
John Taylor Teachers' Centre

GV II

Formerly known as: Spring Bank HEADINGLEY LANE Headingley.
House, now teachers' centre. c1857. By John Fox. For Robert
Ellershaw; additions and alterations 1877-78 by CR Chorley for
James Kitson and 1885-6 by William Thorp for William Harvey.
C20 alterations. Rock-faced sandstone with gritstone
dressings; graduated Welsh slate roof.
Originally L-shaped in plan, entrance on S front, with bay
extension at SE corner and large 1885-6 addition in NW angle.
In Jacobethan style.
2 storeys with basement/cellar and attics. Plinth; quoins;
mullioned and transomed windows, those of original build with
stopped hoodmoulds; 1st-floor string; curvilinear shaped
gables with ashlar coping and finials; offset, quoined
chimneys with multiple octagonal flues. 4-bay entrance front
has single-storey castellated buttressed porch to bay 2 with
moulded pointed-arched entrance, decorative tessellated floor
and inner 4-panel double door in quoined surround;
single-light window above; external stack to left bay; bay 3
projecting slightly under gable with 4-light window under
3-light oriel (both later) and single-light attic window;
1877-8 two-storey castellated bay on right with 3-light under
2-light window.
Garden front (left return) 4 bays, the 2 on left being
additions of 1885-6; of these the left bay has
segmental-arched moulded doorway under squat window with
blind, ogee-arched, top lights, on left of transomless 2-light
window with 3-light window above; the gabled right bay
projects slightly, having 6 lights to ground floor, the
central pair flanked by attached pilasters which support
oriel.
Original right-hand bays, the right bay projecting under gable
having 2-storey castellated bay window, now with door on
ground floor and without mullions and transoms, single-light
attic window; wider left bay has added ashlar castellated
canted bay window with steps down to central door, on
1st-floor former 3-light window flanked by single-light
windows, roof dormer.
Rear: 4 bays stepping forward, 2 under gables; 2 oriels. Right
return: 3 bays, added bay projecting on left, right-hand bays

stepping forward under gables, right one possibly an addition.
INTERIOR: surviving from the first build are the wooden,
closed-string, open-well stair with octagonal balusters and
castellated newels; 4-panel doors, in principal rooms with
bolection-moulded architraves and pulvinated friezes;
panelling; moulded cornices, some with egg-and-dart motifs
(these possibly later).
c1880 work by A Heaton in hall and principal rooms including
Adam-style decorative plasterwork to soffits and jambs of
various arches and openings. 1885-86 work includes fine
painted- and stained-glass stair window and lantern and porch
overlight by Messrs Powell Bros; and also the very fine tiled
fireplaces in the principal rooms, the tiles by William de
Morgan, an associate of William Morris et al. There are 5
fireplaces in all, having polished stone fenders, iron grates,
and elaborate wood and stone architraves, the tiles being of
different colour-schemes and with different themes, in the
former breakfast room (front left) pink-on-white animal, bird
and flower designs; in former dining room (rear left)
green-on-white ships and ferny flowers; in former drawing room
(front right) blue, and green-on-white foliage with peacock
and lizard side panels; in stair hall red-on-white leaf
patterns with sunflower frieze in architrave; in former
principal bedroom (1st floor, front right) sunflowers, the
architrave with panel of dancing children.
Originally called Spring Bank, from c1871-85 this was the home
of James Kitson, later Lord Airedale, locomotive manufacturer,
leader of Leeds Liberal Association and 1st Lord Mayor of
Leeds 1896-97, Gladstone staying here in 1881. Kitson was
followed by William Harvey, a notable local Quaker, 1885-92;
and then by Charles F Tetley, of the brewing company, a
Conservative and Lord Mayor in 1897.
(The Architect, May 28th: 1886-: 327; Gazzard, M: Decorated
tiles by William De Morgan at Springbank, Headingley: 2;
Lackey, R: Quality Pays: The Story of Joshua Tetley & Son:
1985-: 121-122; Marshall, J: A Biographical Dictionary of
Railway Engineers: 1978-: 135).

Listing NGR: SE2811035786

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26547537

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

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  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)