Description

LEEDS

SE2932NE FOUNDRY STREET, Holbeck
714-1/80/1315 (South side)
The Victoria Foundry machine and
erecting shops, now Rover Garage

GV II

Foundry workshops, now car repair premises. 3 phases of
building, between 1863 and 1882, with late C20 modifications.
Part of Smith, Beacock and Tannett's Victoria Foundry.
Cast-iron, possibly steel frames with brick infill (1:5
English bond); vertical timber cladding on the latest (1882)
range. Corrugated asbestos roof. A tall single storey with
inserted flooring in parts, 3x9 bays.
Facades: the main 3-gable front faces NE. Brick (1875-77) on
left and timber cladding (1882) on right. 3, 2, 2 tall
round-headed windows, the left 3 in stretchers, those to
centre and right in wood frames; the lower part of each
blocked or altered. Inserted wide access doors in the central
bay. Rear (SW facade to Marshall Street): a horizontal timber
beam with joist holes is incorporated into the C20 brickwork.
Left return (SE facade): 2 phases of building visible here,
the left end (4 upper level windows visible) of the early
1860s, and on the right 5 bays of the cast-iron framed
erecting shop of 1875-77 which originally extended further
south. The left range has cylindrical columns with modern
brick infill supporting a horizontal timber beam, above which
is a wall of hand-pressed brick (1:5 English bond) with square
segmental-headed windows in stretchers; a row of holes below
sill level suggest the line of a lean-to roof. The framed wall
to right consists of cylindrical full-height columns with
cast-in brackets supporting ribbed beams at mid point and
eaves levels; sockets at eaves level indicate the position of
projecting horizontal beams from the demolished section. Brick
infill in random bond, probably 1882. Right return (facing up
Foundry Street): a cast-iron frame with box girder at lintel
level for the wagon entrance, 2 square windows above.
INTERIOR: not examined in detail: 3 parallel pitched roofs, a
characteristic 'nave and aisles' arrangement with open-sided
upper floors to left and right. 10 pierced cast-iron
stanchions on left support more slender stanchions, some
pierced, and all with cast-in brackets on the inner face. The
right side has only 4 similar stanchions which carry a
rivetted box girder, above which are 8 pierced slender
stanchions with brackets on inner faces. The roof trusses
reflect the building phases: queen posts to west end (1860s),
5 thin-section cast-iron trusses on girders to SE (1875-77)
and timber A-frames with iron tie rods and apex shoes to the
centre and north aisle (1882).
Although it incorporates several phases of rebuilding and
alteration this range represents an important phase in the
development of the Round Foundry site and in the history of
engineering. Matthew Murray pioneered the creation of the
integrated engineering works on this site in the late C18 and
early C19, and his 'Rotundo' stood in this area. The earlier
part of the building (c1863) survived the fire which destroyed
the circular assembly shop in 1875, and the iron framed
structure built to replace the assembly shop also survives in
part. The building standing today represents a typical
assembly shop of the later C19, built with an obvious
awareness of the earlier building style (tall round-arched
windows aligned to catch early morning light, similar to those
of the dry sand foundry (qv). It is probably the workshop
described as 'a fine new substantial building' in 1888
(Industries of Yorkshire, p.84). The description states that
it was 'several smaller workshops thrown into one...by taking
down some of the old outer walls and putting iron pillars and
girders in their place.'
The firm of Smith, Beacock and Tannett was in operation from
the late 1840s until 1899, building machines and engines. From
the late 1860s they specialised in the production of overhead
cranes as well as items for the War Office, the Admiralty and
international trade.
(West Yorkshire Archaeology Service: Gomersall H: The Round
Foundry, Water Lane, Leeds: Notes & Comments; Fitzgerald R:
pers. comm.).

Listing NGR: SE2959632819

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656267

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)