Time Ball Buildings

LEEDS

SE3033SW BRIGGATE 714-1/78/59 (West side) 22/03/74 Nos.24, 25 AND 26 Time Ball Buildings

GV II*

Houses and shops, now restaurant. Early C19 with elaborate decoration added c1872 (Nos 25 & 26) and c1900 (No.24 and ground floor), restored 1993. Alterations for the firm of J Dyson, watchmaker. Stucco facade, probably slate roof. 3 storeys, 4 windows. Quoins. Nos 25 and 26: 4-pane sashes, in canted bays to first floor; architraves, moulded cornice on console brackets; moulded panels below eaves with raised lettering: 'TIME BALL BUILDINGS'; modillion cornice between large console brackets and surmounted by scrolled finials. Bay windows flank a large pedimented clock case, the face carrying the lettering, 'JOHN DYSON 25 & 26'; elaborate wrought-iron cresting rises above eaves line and includes spiral and palmette motifs as decoration to the overthrow which terminates in a weather vane and frames the shaft and time ball. No.24: added elaborate wooden bay window rises through upper storeys and retains fine curved glass panes at first floor, moulded cornice and small pediment surmounted by small dome topped by a sphere; cantilevered from front of bay is a large clock in frame with ironwork spandrels, letters D & S, TEMPUS FUGIT, and the date, 1865, all surmounted by a figure of Father Time. Ground floor: continuous pilastered shop front, entrances centre and far left. INTERIOR: contains important fittings including ornate panelling, etched missors, counters and shelving plus a mechanism (now relocated) which formerly raised and lowered the window displays, allowing safe storage in the cellar/vaults each night. HISTORICAL NOTE: used by a distiller, saddler and trunk maker, a haircutter and perfumier and a stationer through the C19 until c1869-71 when Boar Lane was being rebuilt and the premises were uninhabited. In 1872 J Dyson, watchmaker, was at No.26; by 1890 the firm occupied the whole of the building. The gilded time ball mechanism was linked to Greenwich and dropped at exactly 1pm each day; this feature, together with the window mechanism, makes Dyson's a rare survival of elaborate Victorian/Edwardian shop innovation and design. (Lingard S, University of Leeds: Index of buildings in Briggate (unpublished thesis)).

Listing NGR: SE3021333361