Pair Of Houses And Warehouse On North Side Of Canal At Armley Mills

This is a pair of mill managers' houses and a warehouse, now serving as museum offices, located on the north side of the canal at Armley Mills. Built by 1793 for Israel and John Burrows, the warehouse was constructed in the 19th century and the range was restored after 1969 for the Leeds Industrial Museum. The buildings are made of coursed stone with a hipped stone slate roof featuring central and end chimneys on the houses, while the warehouse has a corrugated asbestos roof.

The houses are semi-detached with a mirror plan, two storeys high and two bays wide, and they have a lower two-storey, two-bay service range attached to the east end. A similar service bay at the west end was incorporated into the warehouse block. The doors have overlights in plain surrounds at bays 1, 4, and 5, and there are restored thin stone mullioned windows with two, three, and four lights in plain stone surrounds. The warehouse range has a nine-window layout with three steps leading up to a doorway with a plain surround on the right and nine-pane central pivoting windows. A change in stonework indicates that the warehouse was rebuilt or raised above the ground-floor lintel level.

At the rear, the house features outer round-arched stair windows and tall two-light sash windows, along with four-light mullion windows in the service block on the left. The warehouse has a four-light mullion window and two paired square windows on the left, with the remaining windows matching those at the front. The interior has not been inspected.

Historically, Thomas Lloyd rebuilt Armley Mills and leased it to Israel Burrows and Christopher Hill. By 1793, Israel and his brother John occupied the houses and used part of the premises for their weaving business. Although the houses are now in an isolated part of the site, they originally stood on the main path leading into the mill from the river ford just downstream. In the early 20th century, the warehouse was three storeys high and extended further west.