Heritage at Risk Top 10 – Following on from our article on the Little Temple in the May edition of Outlook, this month we are striking out across the city to one of the biggest city parks in Europe. With over 700 acres of parkland, lakes, woodland and gardens, Roundhay Park is also home to several listed buildings including the South Gate Lodges, which feature on our Heritage at Risk Top 10.
These days most people visit Roundhay Park through the park gates on Prince’s Avenue or via the Mansion. Of course, Prince’s Avenue did not exist when it was a private estate, and in the early nineteenth century the Nicholson family and their guests would have arrived via the new Leeds to Roundhay turnpike, now Wetherby Road, entering the estate between the two gate lodges and along the carriage drive, past Waterloo Lake and then swinging round to the east side of the Mansion, catching a view of its imposing southern façade above them as they did so. The lodges were probably designed by the same architect as the Mansion (now believed to be Thomas Taylor) and with their elegant pilastered facades were an indication of the grandeurs to come on the approach to the Mansion itself.
Originally designed as dwellings, the west lodge was last used as such in the 1960s, while the east lodge at one time had permission for use as a mortuary, but was certainly vacant by the 1980s. Abandoned since then, the lodges are now roofless, and their windows blocked up. Over twenty years ago, works were carried out to consolidate the shells, and repair some of the eroded stonework, but now graffiti is beginning to appear, and it is only through the dedicated work of the Friends of Roundhay Park that the lodges have not been fully overtaken by vegetation.
Last year, an initiative by the Friends brought together representatives of the City Council, Leeds Civic Trust, Leeds Buildings Preservation Trust and others to consider a possible future for the buildings that might bring them back into use. As a result, Leeds Buildings Preservation Trust applied for, and received, a grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund to commission Buttress Architects (who have recently joined the Trust as corporate members,) to carry out an initial viability study. The indications are that there is a substantial conservation deficit but grant funding may be available to restore these listed buildings and put them to a suitable, sustainable use. More work now needs to be done to firm up our initial ideas for a new use and how best to achieve it.
Leeds Buildings Preservation Trust (LBPT), who have now taken on this project within that partnership, may sound like a new organisation to some, but has been around for many years, having grown out of Leeds Civic Trust in the 1970s. It owns the Grade II listed St George’s Clock Tower at Rothwell, bequeathed by the developers of the hospital there almost twenty years ago (watch out for Heritage Open Days there this year). Having been dormant for some time, LBPT is in the process of rejuvenating itself with new trustees, building capacity to take on more heritage buildings at risk like the lodges. Restoring heritage buildings such as these, that need financial support, is not straightforward, but with a long list of heritage at risk around the city, LBPT is aiming to be the heritage development vehicle which can, over time, bring Roundhay Park’s South Gate Lodges, and other heritage at risk, back to life.
Peter Baker
HWG Member & Vice-President, Leeds Civic Trust
Trustee, Leeds Building Preservation Trust
