New York Buildings

New York Buildings comprise shops and storerooms, originally built as a cocoa house, workshops, and offices. They were constructed in 1880 by J.W. Baxendall, with a later extension in 1883 by William Belton Perkin. The building is of brick construction with stone dressings and a slate roof. It is arranged over four storeys and comprises three distinct blocks, all built in a similar style.

The three-bay block on the left (Nos. 1-3) has two, one, and two first-floor windows respectively. The two-window bay in the centre (probably related to the original cocoa house) is followed by an eight-bay block on the right (Nos. 5-19). The left three bays and return feature four square-section and two cylindrical mullions that support an entablature and cornice. Round-arched plate-glass sashes are found on the first floor, with linked hoodmoulds and a moulded string above. Rectangular windows are present on the second and third floors, featuring moulded continuous sills. A bracketed eaves cornice and brick patterning, with small gables bearing stone kneelers and copings above the outer windows, complete the facade.

The eight-bay block exhibits a probably original shop front on the ground floor (at No. 13). The first floor has round arches filled with moulded tiles. Second-floor windows are mullioned with three lights, and the steeply pitched roof features four workshop windows. The left return features a two-window bay flanked by curved corner bays with one and two windows, detailed similarly to the front. The corner bays have stone architraves to the first-floor windows.

The interior has not been inspected.

The western section of York Street was renamed New York Street when this building was constructed. Initially known as the ‘Borough Arms Cocoa House’, it was also referred to as the Leeds Central Cocoa House in 1881, with Charles Burrow as the proprietor, who was also a shoe dealer. In 1890-91, Nos. 1 & 3 York Street were listed as belonging to the ‘Leeds Cocoa House Company’. The eight-bay element of the building is likely the ‘Central Cocoa House, Kirkgate’, designed by William Belton Perkin in 1883. Property divisions are shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1891, and Nos. 1-11 were the ‘Borough Arms Cocoa House’.