Abtech House

Abtech House is a late 19th-century office building located on Park Row in Leeds, designed by Edward J Dodgshun and altered in the 20th century. The structure features ashlar and carved stone with a rebuilt slate roof, standing four storeys tall with an added attic and four bays. The ground floor facade may have been refronted and displays a geometric relief pattern. There are projecting entrances on either side, and above them is a deep frieze adorned with finely-carved figures in deep relief, including a central seated female figure holding a globe and the staff of Mercury, flanked by scenes of colonial trade. The projections over the end doorways feature cartouches with a shield and motto, accompanied by draped figures, and there is an egg-and-dart moulding above. The first-floor windows are decorated with cartouches that include carvings of a dove with an olive branch, owls and a cross, a sailing ship, and the Agnus Dei, all beneath a dentilled string. Fluted Corinthian pilasters adorn the second and third floors, topped with a heavy modillion cornice. The building has end stacks. The interior has not been inspected. Historically, in 1881, No. 18 Park Row housed the North of England Mercantile Agency, with various businesses including Peyton and Co, Daniel Dodgson, and RC Thackwray using the premises. EJ Dodgshun also designed the West Riding Union Bank in Park Row, built around 1900, and by 1905, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank was operating from this location along with other architects and surveyors.