Queens Hotel

The Queens Hotel, opened in 1937 and altered in the late 20th century, was designed by W Curtis Green and WH Hamlyn for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company. It is constructed in a stripped Classical style with a steel frame, Portland stone ashlar, and brick facades. The building comprises 8 main storeys, 2 mezzanines, and an attic. The central 11 bays and the three bays at each end project forward, with the ends featuring pilastered temple fronts above a decorative cornice. Bays 4 and 14 are further distinguished by pediments. Urns adorn the corners of the projecting bays on the 1st and 2nd floors. Continuous staircase windows are recessed between bays 4 and 14, with relieving arches below the cornice. A pilastered attic with a pediment tops the structure. A recessed porch with a flat hood provides access. Metal-framed casement windows are present throughout. A ground-floor access road serves the railway station, with a porte cochere supported by drum columns displaying coats of arms of the railway's served cities. The hotel shares a design with the adjacent Company Offices and connects to the rear station concourse. The interior retains original detailing in the main reception rooms, banqueting room, corridors, and lift fittings, including veneered double doors, lighting, and flooring. The original bedroom furnishings remain. The hotel's opening by the Earl of Harewood in November 1937 marked Leeds' transition to a national centre. The building stands on a series of brick vaults from the 1846 Midland Railway's Wellington Street Station, including a culvert for the Mill Goyt. These vaults are part of a larger network extending under several listed buildings and the approaches to the present Leeds Station, which incorporates elements of the earlier Wellington Street Station (demolished) and London and North Western Railway's New Station (demolished in 1963).