Local Listing Workshop at Mabgate The inner-city area of Mabgate is one of the oldest established parts of Leeds and was central to the city’s industrialisation. At the end of the 18th century, as mills and factories were appearing across the city centre, Mabgate became somewhat of a hub for manufacturing. By 1850, it was […]
Stories from the Heritage at Risk List – The Majestic One of Leeds’ true city centre icons is in the middle of a £40 million redevelopment which will return it to its former glory and a whole lot more. The Majestic building in City Square was purchased by Rushbond plc and the firm’s proposals for […]
Airey Homes The 20th Century Society recently spent the weekend in Leeds and for me one of the great finds was a complete estate of mostly unaltered Airey houses in Oulton. Designed and built after the Second World War by Sir Edwin Airey of Leeds, these prefabricated houses consist of concrete columns, reinforced with […]
Stories from the Heritage at Risk List In 2013, as part of an English Heritage pilot project, Leeds Civic Trust played a leading role in surveying Grade 2 listed buildings in Leeds. Led by Jenna Strover, the Chair of the Trust’s Heritage at Risk Group, the team of approximately 20 volunteers managed to survey an […]
Rainbow Plaque 9 – Artist Robert H. Kitson Rainbow Plaque number 9, celebrating the life and works of Robert Hawthorn Kitson, can be found on the glass entrance to the Leeds Art Gallery. Kitson was a gay man from Leeds who chose to move to Italy at the turn of the 20th Century to escape […]
Mill Hill Chapel, situated opposite the train station at the bottom of Park Row, is the location of the fourth plaque on our Rainbow Plaque Trail. It commemorates the site at which, in 2014, Leeds’ first same-sex marriages were conducted within a religious context. The Marriage Act of 2013 legalised the marriage ceremonies of same-sex […]
Rainbow Plaque 15 – Celebrating 'Polari' Rainbow Plaque number 15 on our newly established Rainbow Plaque Trail around Leeds city centre celebrates the LGBT+ community’s use of ‘Polari’, a secret vocabulary used to avoid arousing suspicion at a time when being gay was a criminal offence. The plaque is situated at the entrance to the […]
Rainbow Plaques Launched In anticipation of Leeds Pride 2018 we launched our Rainbow Plaque Trail on the 1st August which celebrates the rich history of LGBT+ icons and events in Leeds. Together with Leeds LGBT+ Hub and Leeds City Council, the Trust has erected 15 plaques across the city centre to celebrate the LGBT+ community […]