Claremont With Garden Wall To Clarendon Road And Kendal Lane

A house, now offices, with boundary wall, situated in Leeds. The building dates from the late 18th century with later alterations and additions, the most significant undertaken in 1856 by architect George Corson for Dr John Deakin Heaton. It is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond, with slate hipped and stone roofs. The structure comprises two storeys over cellars, arranged on an almost square plan, with a much-altered service range attached to the rear left corner.

The south front features a 1:3:1 arrangement of windows, with the centre slightly projecting and topped by a pediment containing a circular window. A central porch with glazed double doors is framed by Tuscan three-quarter columns and a pediment. To the right stands a single-storey, two-window bay with a carved plaque displaying a coat of arms between the windows. The windows are 4-pane sashes with flat brick arches and a continuous sill band to the first floor, punctuated by round bosses. A modillion eaves cornice runs across, with tall banded brick chimney stacks to left and right.

The left return comprises four bays with a wide 6-panel door and traceried fanlight, a 16-pane sash with margin lights, a sash with glazing bars, and a single-storey square bay-windowed extension. The first floor contains four sashes with glazing bars and a blind window. The right return features a 6-panelled door with traceried overlight, two large ground-floor bay windows (one canted with the inscription 'HFH, MH, 1856, and LH' in the spandrels; the other square with a 16-pane sash), and seven sash windows of 12 and 16 panes on the first floor, with outer windows on canted corners (the right-hand blind).

Interior

The interior retains an 18th-century cross-corridor plan with surviving service entrances. Dr Heaton documented his alterations in a personal diary. The porch floor comprises polychrome tiles inscribed with 'SALVETE AMICI' and 'VALETE AMICI'. Half-glazed inner double doors feature stained glass in the fanlight, with the Heaton coat of arms, the date 1856, initials, and the motto 'esse quam videre'; the doors retain inner shutters to their upper halves. Above is an over-painted stone plaque bearing the motto 'THOU LORD ONLY MAKEST ME DWELL IN SAFETY'.

The entrance hall displays polychrome Minton floor tiles laid in 1867, with doorways flanked by 6-fielded-panel doors featuring egg-and-dart mouldings. A wide round arch opens into the stone-flagged staircase hall containing a cantilevered stair of three flights with knopped balusters, a fluted terminal, ramped handrail, and column balusters to the landing balustrade. The stair's style and roof structure suggest a date of circa 1770, later than the original house. Two circular vents with shutters were inserted by Dr Heaton; the oval top light features a frieze and wreaths of oak leaves. A service stair with bulbous column-on-vase balusters and ramped handrail stands to the rear.

The principal ground-floor room on the front left was altered by Heaton from drawing room to dining room and now serves as a lecture room. It contains a 1740 doorcase from Scarcroft Grange, donated to the Yorkshire Archaeological and Thoresby Societies (YAS) in 1955, a 19th-century Classical fireplace, and flanking recesses of 1859 with Minton tile panels. Behind this room lies a former storeroom, altered by Heaton to a butler's pantry. Further back stands the old kitchen and servants' hall with sliding window shutters, probably dating to 1849, and an 18th-century Classical wooden fire surround from the original front drawing room. Shelves and furnishings in these rear rooms were installed in 1925 by the architectural firm Kitson, Parish and Ledgard, adapted from the YAS's earlier premises.

The ground-floor front right room was originally the dining room, altered by Heaton to a drawing room. It features a moulded ceiling cornice, an east bay window of 1856, south recesses with interlaced strapwork (by Corson, 1865), and a set of Minton tiles representing the seasons (1871). The middle room on the east side is now the Heaton Room housing the YAS Archives section; it was formerly Heaton's library, and retains an oak fireplace discovered in the basement in 1968. Behind the fireplace lies a 'safe' room, accessed via a doorway to the left of the fireplace. The rear right room is octagonal, with a fireplace removed from the library in 1867.

The first floor contains three south rooms now occupied by the Thoresby Society. They feature two Adam-style marble fireplaces from Osmondthorpe Hall in Whitkirk, acquired by the Society in 1925 and relocated from their earlier premises in 1967; the carving is attributed to John Flaxman. The 16-pane sash windows on the first floor were taken from the ground floor when the bay windows were inserted.

The rear service range originally contained stables and a brewhouse, rebuilt by Heaton and remodelled as student accommodation in the mid-20th century.

Boundary Wall

The boundary wall dates to the 18th century with rebuilding on Clarendon Road undertaken in 1991. It is constructed of red brick with stone coping. Linked to the rear service wing, it extends along Kendal Lane, the original north boundary of the Claremont estate, ramping down from approximately 5 metres to 3 metres in height. Two further ramps (rebuilt) at the Clarendon Road corner reduce the wall to approximately 2 metres.

Historical Context

Dr Heaton was a physician at the Leeds General Infirmary and served as the first chairman of the Council of the Yorkshire College of Science, which later became the University of Leeds.