No. 1 Albion Place

No. 1 Albion Place is a house dating from 1795, with alterations around 1878 and restoration in 1990. It was built for William Hey. The building is constructed of red/brown brick with stone detailing and has a slate roof. It is two storeys and has an attic, with cellars beneath. It has five windows on the first floor. The front features a stone plinth, a modillion cornice, and a wide pediment with a restored oval window. Stone steps lead to a central entrance with Tuscan columns in antis, a round-arch recess containing a fanlight. Flanking the entrance are sash windows, restored in 1990. The first floor has five sashes with restored frames, flat brick arches, and window sills that form a plain string course. The rear of the building has original ground-floor windows blocked, with upper-floor windows—including a round-headed stair window—restored in 1990. The interior, which has not been inspected, is reported to contain brick-vaulted cellars with a stone floor, a main staircase with an original wooden balustrade rising from the entrance hall, and fittings from around 1878 in the former Law Society library and board room. The attics contain a 19th-century cooking range and a smaller, possibly original, fireplace, along with a queen post roof. This is the central block of the house and consulting rooms of William Hey, known as the ‘father of Leeds surgery’. No. 1A Albion Place to the right is part of the original house, depicted in a watercolour by Russell from 1802 (held at Birmingham City Art Gallery), and served as a reference during the 1990 restoration. The building served as the premises of The Leeds Law Society from 1878. William Hey began his practice in 1758 and was a founder and first surgeon at the Leeds Infirmary in 1767. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1775 and served as Mayor of Leeds in 1787 and 1802. The western block frontage was rebuilt around 1920, following restoration work undertaken between 1988 and 1990.