OUR OWL DETECTIVES AND THEIR OWLS

Thanks to all our Owl Detectives for their ongoing contributions.

If you know anything of interest about these owls then please email the team with information. info@leedsowltrail.com

Ruth Blaumberg

Former Leeds Mercantile Bank building (soon to appear on our map), next to The Bourse, on Boar Lane by Thomas Ambler 1872. There are many other birds carved on this building but are there more owls?

Thomas Ambler (1838-1920) lived and worked in Leeds and designed many other buildings, including the surviving Grade 2 listed buildings on the south side of Boar Lane, St James’s Hall in New York Street, and the Grade 2 listed Moorish factory (now offices) of St Paul’s House in Park Square, Leeds. The latter building is a real treat and certainly worth a visit even if the have been no sightings of owls.

On the door of the Yorkshire Penny Bank Building a magnificant carving oiled and preserved.

Kirkgate Chambers, Leeds Kirkgate Market.

Detail is similar to the Kirkgate Chambers Mosaic. The owl also features in a beautiful stained glass window.

Ursula Hansen

Belgium tourist Ursula Hansen spotted these owls at Churchill House, 17/19 Wellington Street.

Built in 1859 by George Corson, No. 17 “Churchill House” was built for woollen manufacturer Thomas Pawson of Stonebridge Mill, Wortley, No 19 for John Sykes and Sons.

Caitlin and Michael Blick

These Quebec Street owls were spotted by two of our young owl detectives. Well done!

Barrington Moy

Leeds Central Library Interior. This one is above the entrance to the lending library and is on the opposite side of the inner hall.

Thoresby Building, rear elevation, Rossington Street (overlooking the old school yard).

It was built in 1900 for the Leeds School Board and in 1901 opened as the Pupil Teacher’s College with 600 students. Brian Godward, author of “Leeds Heritage Trail”, advises that this experiment in educating young people as teachers did not prevail and in 1909 it became an ordinary high school for girls known as Central Higher Grade School. It was converted to Council offices in 1995.

St John’s Church 1634
Address: St John the Evangelist, 23 New Briggate, Leeds, LS2 8JD

St. John’s Church is located off New Briggate, although you can gain access via the Merrion Street Gardens. It was consecrated in 1634 and is Leeds’ oldest surviving church. It merits 6 pages in the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Leeds and a visit is highly recommended. You can find the book at the Leeds Civic Trust bookshop by visiting www.leedscivictrust.org.uk

For further information go to: www.visitchurches.org.uk

Opening times: 11-3pm Tuesday-Saturday Telephone: +44 (0)113 244 1689

North Lane Headingly, Youth Service.

The building on North Lane, Headingley, was built by the Council in 1914 in mock Tudor style for a new Overseers’ Office. It has since been used by the Council for a variety of uses and is currently used by the Youth Service.

The Library Public House on the corner of Clarendon Road and Woodhouse Lane.

The Library pub was built in 1901 and was formerly a police station, fire station and a library. Whilst one of the former uses has given the pub its name, another of its former uses is commemorated by the carved pickaxes and hoses on keystone of the arch above the main entrance door on Woodhouse Lane.

Headingley Taps Pub, North Lane, Headingley

There are two Leeds coats of arms on the front elevation of the Headingley Taps pub which is located on North Lane, Headingley.

This handsome stone listed building with elaborately shaped gables was built as a pumping station by Leeds Corporation Waterworks to pump clean water to new development in the higher areas of the rapidly expanding town. The foundation stone was laid in 1858 and the building opened in 1860. The pumping station was decommissioned in the 1980s and was converted to a pub in 1994.

Jeff Mitchell (Civic Hall Porter)

We now take you inside the Civic Hall.

“Shiny polished white and bright Portland stone, gilded we are not. We were positively radiant in the dirty Leeds of 1933. With best seats in the house for Kings and Queens we’ve seen them all from George V to QE2.

John Grogan

The vision for a “Leeds General Infirmary” dates back to June 1767 and in 1861 as the population grew to around 2017,000 a new building was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. This Victorian building located in Great George Street is still an important part of the infirmary today.

In 1879, 1885 and 1891 the Scottish architect George Corson enlarged the original scope of the Gilbert Scott building. Other extensions include the Brotherton Wing built to house private patients. This was hit by German bombs during an air raid shortly after in opened in 1940, but was fortunately undamaged.

The Martin and Wellcome Wings, both in stark modern styles, opened in the 1960s, and were followed by the Clarendon Wing in the 1980s, bringing women’s and children’s services together at the Infirmary for the first time.

Upper Wortley Police Station was built in 1899 and replaced an earlier police station on the same site. The building includes a turret, Leeds Coat of Arms and a pair of owls as well as a Potts Clock.

The Oakwood Clock, which was erected in Oakwood in 1912 after first appearing in Leeds Market. These photographs were taken before the recent restoration which has brought the clock back to its former grandeur.

Holbeck Free Public Library, in Ninevah Street, opened on 26 November 1903 and is situated at the junction of Nineveh Road and Marshall Street. It was built to the design of William Bakewell and is faced with Burmantofts glazed terracotta tiling. The building is now used as offices.

Cardigan Road, Headingley
This impressive owl was spotted on a private house in Headingley.

York Road Library Owl Mosaic

Nick Moss – Leeds film maker

Leeds Magistrate’s Court

There is a carved wooden owl in every court at Leeds Magistrates Court, around 20 owls.

Court 13.