Kirkgate House?

Bunkers, shelters and other buildings
ninanoonanarna
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Post by ninanoonanarna »

Can anyone offer me any info on Kirkgate house next to the church in the city centre? I've googled and all I keep on getting on is house prices in kirkgate I got a couple of photos of it. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninanoonan ... eam/Cheers guys

Phill_dvsn
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Post by Phill_dvsn »

4th December 1963 On the left of the image is number 6 Church Row. The large and imposing Kirkgate House, home to Leeds Council of Social Services. This three storey building towers over its terraced neighbours on the right numbers 4 and 5 Church Row. In front of these buildings are the well maintained grounds of St Peter's Church, Kirkgate.During the war the Market District Boy's club was closed and this building was used as a make shift club, the gym was on the top floor with climbing rope's rings parallel bars and mats. It was quite a few years later that the old club opened after the war.    
My flickr pictures are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/Because lunacy was the influence for an album. It goes without saying that an album about lunacy will breed a lunatics obsessions with an album - The Dark side of the moon!

Phill_dvsn
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Post by Phill_dvsn »

It's an old building and features on the 1850 map. This gas lamp survives next to the building todayhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/3848807657/    
My flickr pictures are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/Because lunacy was the influence for an album. It goes without saying that an album about lunacy will breed a lunatics obsessions with an album - The Dark side of the moon!

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Leodian
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Post by Leodian »

You beat me to it ninanoonanarna as I was about to ask about Kirkgate House. I took several photos at the site yesterday (Aug 19 2011). I have added one showing the now very eroded foundation stone that is located on the side of Kirkgate House in Kirk Ings Yard (at the end of Church Row going to the Calls).
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Leodian
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Post by Leodian »

This is another photo that I took on August 19 2011. It shows more of the now overgrown area where there used to be old buildings at one time fronting Church Row. The photo does show an old looking building that backs onto Kirkgate House (or possibly is part of it). If looked closely the old gas lamp can be made out to the end of Church Row.     
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Leodian
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Post by Leodian »

I hope ninanoonanarna that you do not mind me adding one more photo to your thread. I took several photos of Kirkgate House (KH) on August 17 2011 but had a problem with all but this one, which is why I went back to the area on August 19th to take photos. This one taken on Aug 17 shows the rear of KH in Kirk Ings Yard. The foundation stone can be seen in the corner of KH.Just as I was taking this photo the white van was driven into the yard and parked so spoiling the scene a bit. Unfortunately when I went back on Aug 19th I forgot to take a photo of this view despite the white van not being there! Ah well, I may get a better shot another time. Edit added at 23:59. Just looking at the photo again I've noticed that there seems to be differing line of bricks on the right of KH. I wonder if KH was extended at some stage or perhaps some repair work was done. The foundation stone would unlikely have stood out so I am guessing that some repair was done at some stage.    
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Phill_dvsn
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Post by Phill_dvsn »

Leodian wrote: Edit added at 23:59. Just looking at the photo again I've noticed that there seems to be differing line of bricks on the right of KH. I wonder if KH was extended at some stage or perhaps some repair work was done. The foundation stone would unlikely have stood out so I am guessing that some repair was done at some stage.     Hi Leodian, I can see the clear line of differing brick on the right you mean on the right. It hasn't been extended a foot or so that way over the years, but it has extended out to the left, you can see the single story addition joining the two buildings together. If you look carefully you can see the lintol above the boarded up doorway, and first ground floor window are different shades to the rest. The first floor being an obvious addition as the window sits right on the corner of the building, I'm no structural engineer, but there does appear a lot of weight supported on the middle of that lintol on that corner If you look at the 1850 and 1910 maps below you can see the noticeable side passage? or square of missing building along Kirkings Yard.The differing shade of brick will be a change from the more ornate brickwork that fronted the building to the cheaper, and lesser seen brickwork along Kirkings Yard. After all it was only a narrow yard you wouldn't really notice the quality of brick along there. The side passage lintols are also plain compared to the ornate, curved and moulded frontage ones. If you look at this photo herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/ninanoonanarna/60 ... stream/you can see the obvious difference in brick quality of the front facing brick to that used on the gable ends.The Victorians used this facing brick and stone a lot in their construction, you can see it to good effect on railway tunnel portals. The grand arch of the tunnel portal was cast in ornate and expensive stonework, but it only wrapped around into the tunnel a few stones deep, the rest was cheaper stone, or more common brick that wouldn't be seen from the outside. A good example can be seen on the shot below. This tunnel was in a short open section, it was at one time two separate tunnels, the middle section all built of stone would have been at one time pristine, but years of soot have blackened it. You can see how the elaborate cut stone portals soon give way to cheaper stone and brick construction, very much like the Kirkgate House design.                             
My flickr pictures are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/Because lunacy was the influence for an album. It goes without saying that an album about lunacy will breed a lunatics obsessions with an album - The Dark side of the moon!

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Leodian
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Post by Leodian »

Thanks Phill. That is appreciated.I've now noticed that the chimneys on KH are not the same brick type as the main structure and look fresher, so likely they were rebuilt at some stage. The 1910 map shows that what is now the Kirk Ings Yard carpark had buildings in at least then. I wonder when they were demolished?PS. I loved the railway tunnel photo. It looks like it was dual track at some stage. I see the ubiquitous abandoned supermarket trolley is there!
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Phill_dvsn
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Post by Phill_dvsn »

Hi Leodian.I think that supermarket trolley got thrown down there when it was an open section years earlier. It would be a major feat to drag it to that spot otherwise, and in the pitch black too. The tunnel is the infamous Miley tunnel in Preston, reputedly haunted by the ghost of the Grey Lady, she is supposed to be the haunted soul of a young girl pushed to her death from a train into the tunnel in Victorian times. Several deaths, and accidents have happened around the tunnels over the years with people falling into the 30ft deep cutting. I'll not take this kirkgate House thread anymore off course with tunnels, but if you want to read more about the haunted tunnel then see my photo herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/3068339113/            
My flickr pictures are herehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/Because lunacy was the influence for an album. It goes without saying that an album about lunacy will breed a lunatics obsessions with an album - The Dark side of the moon!

ninanoonanarna
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Post by ninanoonanarna »

Hello!Thanks Phil that's brilliant! I noticed it the other day when I was wandering aimlessly around Leeds. The tunnel picture is brilliant, very creepy. How do you manage to get all these cool places? I am envious!Leodian - please feel free to add as many photos as you want, I love looking at the pictures

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