Former warehouse of the Scotch Foundry

Former warehouse of the Scotch Foundry

The former warehouse of the Scotch Foundry at Armley was designed by Walter A Hobson of Leeds and built in 1897, with later additions. It stands on a sandstone outcrop overlooking the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The building is constructed of red brick with buff sandstone dressings and cast-iron decoration. Internally it employs iron columns and timber floors, with slate and corrugated sheet roofs.

The warehouse is arranged on a C-plan, with a north-facing range along Forge Lane and rear wings extending to the east and west, all with slate roofs. The southern extension to the north range (with corrugated sheet roof) and the series of covered yards (with corrugated sheet and flat sheet roofs), together with the lightweight roof structure spanning the gap between the warehouse and the adjacent building to the east, are not of special architectural or historic interest.

The north-facing façade is of three storeys, described on the original 1897 plans as basement, ground and first floors. Although the basement appears at ground level for most of its length, it becomes a full storey high to the right where the land falls away, accommodating a cellar. The façade is divided into five wide bays by three pedimented gables. It is articulated by a plinth, sill bands, first-floor lintel band and cornice, with decorative cast-iron cresting along the parapet.

The outer bays are symmetrical, framed by pilasters with Tudor-flower bands that rise as pillars above the cornice. A central gable rises through the cornice with outer stone ball finials and an arched pediment crowned by a tall cast-iron finial. These bays contain narrow, flat-headed windows with chamfered lintels (mostly in the gabled central section on the ground and first floor, but across the whole bay at basement level). An arch in the gable forms a Venetian window to the first floor. The framing pilasters have segmental-pedimented stone caps with tall, complex cast-iron finials.

The central bay is framed by slender pilasters and is two windows wide, with arched first-floor windows rising through the cornice. Its gable features shaped kneelers, ball finials, a triangular pediment, a datestone of 1888 (referring to the foundation date of the foundry on this site) and a cast-iron weathervane finial. It has two windows to the ground floor and basement, with segmental arch heads and exaggerated keystones that rise to the sill band above. The intermediate bay to the right has matching window openings to these floors. The intermediate bay to the left has three narrow windows to the ground floor and two windows and a panelled door to the basement. All first-floor windows are original, including two square first-floor windows in each intermediate bay, fitted with metal frames and small panes with hopper openers. Most other windows are replacements.

The east façade rises on ground that slopes upward to the left. It comprises eight bays in a more modest style, with ground-floor windows only in the right-hand four bays (mostly altered). Bay 1 from the left has an arched doorway with moulded brick surround and moulded stone dressings. The openings to bays 2 and 3 are altered. A lightweight roof structure with iron trusses and corrugated metal sheeting spans the gap between this façade and the adjacent building to the east, obscuring much of the first floor. This roof structure is not of special architectural or historic interest.

The west façade is partly obscured by the adjacent office building abutting at the north-west corner. The side wall of the front range is framed by pilasters and has an arch-pedimented gable similar to those of the front's outer bays. The remainder of the façade has a moulded stone cornice, above which rise pillars like those crowning the front's pilasters, with matching stone caps and cast-iron finials. Ground-floor window openings have segmental arch heads with exaggerated keystones (some blocked or partially blocked), while first-floor openings are square with a sill band, fitted with metal-framed windows.

To the rear, the upper floors of the east and west ranges mostly retain their original windows. The rear elevations are otherwise almost entirely obscured by later additions that are not of special architectural or historic interest, including a southern extension and a series of yards.

The warehouse interior is largely open-plan with some later partitions. In the basement and ground floor, paired columns support twin spine beams that delineate a central passage. Wooden floors are mostly covered with modern screeds, and the columns and beams are largely concealed by later fireproofing renders and plastered walls. On the first floor, the original construction remains visible with painted brick walls and unboarded ceilings (though with a floor screed). Here the passage columns are cast-iron, staggered, and support the tie-beams of the timber roof structure. The original rear wall is extant with empty window openings. The east and west ranges each have a single central line of columns. The lofts are fully boarded in the east and west ranges, but in the front range only between the outer struts of the roof trusses to allow the first floor to borrow light from eaves skylights. Various partitions remain, along with a goods lift. A cast-iron staircase with decorative risers ascends from the first floor to the loft. Much of the ground-floor inner walls of the east and west ranges have been removed with columns inserted, opening their ground floors into the covered yards.

The former warehouse interconnects with the former office block of the Scotch Foundry at basement level and ground-floor level at the north end of the west elevation.