Hotel Metropole

LEEDS

SE2933SE KING STREET 714-1/77/220 (East side) 22/03/74 Hotel Metropole

GV II

Hotel. 1897-99. By Chorley, Connon and Chorley. Pink/red brick and terracotta made by the firm of JC Edwards of Ruabon, stone cupola, slate roof. Loosely designed in 'French Loire taste' (Pevsner). Large asymmetrical building of 5 and 6 storeys and attics. Approx 9 bays wide; the 2 left bays project slightly with large Dutch gable and 1st- and 2nd-storey oriels with ornate moulded terracotta soffits, supported on tall ornamented brackets. 2 similar oriels to projecting bays right. Semicircular entrance centre has Ionic columns with moulded shafts and moulded frieze in the entablature, supporting the semicircular bay above with rusticated Tuscan pilasters; Dutch gable above. Cornices at floor levels, moulded architraves to ground and 1st floor rusticated, with keyblocks, some with small pediments over. To left of centre the bay is surmounted by a stone cupola with round-arch openings and iron grilles, angle columns, wide cornice and leaded pointed dome with circular openings to each side. Left return: a 7-bay facade with central 3-window staircase bay and ornate windows in 3 bays right; an ornate entrance far left with banded rustication, keyed round arch with impost band, entablature and cornice surmounted by a pedimented plaque with Leeds coat of arms flanked by scrolls. INTERIOR: terracotta and glazed tiles are used in the inner porch which has 2 tiers of squat columns flanking glazed doors, green and yellow glazing to overlight; moulded ceiling with thistle motif. The reception hall has an arched ceiling with moulded cornice and a glazed screen with double doors and Art Deco-style inner arch and clock. The screen wall doors lead into a large inner hall with giant moulded columns supporting entablature and cornice and a panelled coved ceiling. To right of the central hall a small room with elaborate panelled ceiling is now part of the restaurant; to left of the reception hall a wide cantilevered staircase rises through all 6 floors of the building: the elaborate balustrade is bronze with scrolls and pierced plaques, simplified on upper floors, moulded wood handrail. Surviving fireplaces include a cast-iron grate with eared architrave in a 4th-floor service room and a cast-iron moulded surround, brackets and cornice

shelf with small basket grate in 6th-floor former staff accommodation. The cupola on the hotel roof was taken from the recently demolished fourth White Cloth Hall which was built in King Street in 1869 after the partial demolition of the earlier Cloth Hall in Crown Street (qv), (S Burt, pers comm). The firm of J Edwards, the Rhos Glazed Brick and Trefynant Fireclay Works, Pen-y-bont, supplied the materials for this hotel and several other buildings by Connon and Chorley.

Listing NGR: SE2974933464