Description

LEEDS

SE2933NE EAST PARADE
714-1/75/163 (East side)
22/03/74 Pearl Chambers

GV II

Includes: No.8 Pearl Buildings SOUTH PARADE.
Includes: No.159 THE HEADROW.
Premises of the Pearl Assurance Company Limited. 1911. By
William Bakewell. In Free Gothic Revival style. Polished
granite ground floor of banded rustication, Portland stone,
ashlar above, slate roof with 5 narrow stone multiflue stacks
and an octagonal ventilation turret with dome, centre.
Corner site with The Headrow on left return and South Parade
on right; 4 storeys and attic, 5 bays with 3:2:1:2:3 windows
to front and 3 bays to right return, 3 bays and 3 storeys with
2 attic storeys to left return. Panelled doors and overlight
in elliptical arch to centre of each facade: keyblock and
consoles supporting pediment over spandrels and carved panel;
ground-floor windows in round-arched openings with keyblocks,
voussoirs and squat Ionic half columns.
East Parade, upper floors: central and end windows project
slightly; end bays have banded pilasters and corbelled
octagonal pinnacles; central and end bays have slightly
advanced bay windows and balustered balconies on consoles
rising through 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors to high stepped and
panelled gables with finials; pierced parapet and modillion
cornice.
Right return similar; the left return has the cornice and
balustrade above 2nd floor, central stone plinth with
inscription: 'PATRICK JAMES FOLEY/ PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF
THE/ PEARL LIFE ASSURANCE CO LIMTD/ EX MP FOR WEST GALWAY'
surmounted by a statue; at each end a tall panelled plinth
with statue of a seated griffin; 5 flat- and 5 hipped-roofed
dormer windows behind. A band at 1st-floor sill level has the
name of the offices on each facade: 'PEARL ASSURANCE COMPANY
LIMITED' (left return), '1864 PEARL CHAMBERS 1911' (main
front) and 'PEARL BUILDINGS' (right return).
INTERIOR: not inspected.
The building line and details continue through to the
Athenaeum building on The Headrow, by the same architect (qv).
This building was the first to use Portland stone.

Listing NGR: SE2980833767

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656162

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

• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]