Former Machine And Fitting Shops For Fenton Murray And Wood Engineers

The building is a former machine and fitting shop, part of the Round Foundry complex, constructed between 1795 and 1802 for Matthew Murray, with extensions by 1841 and subsequent alterations. It is located on Foundry Street, Holbeck, Leeds. The building is of group value with other nearby structures.

The main range is built of red/brown brick in irregular 1:5 English bond, with rendered and lined sections to the Foundry Street frontage and the east side of the south end. It has a slate roof, stepped brick gutter brackets, and skylights. The building is three storeys high, with nine first-floor windows. An inserted vehicular access cuts through the ground floor on the right-hand side. A lower, three-storey, three-window rendered block adjoins the south end. The east-facing yard side features loading doors to the right of the three rendered bays. The taller range has slightly cambered arches to the windows; a full-height straight joint is visible between the sixth and seventh windows, with window arches featuring headers to the left and stretchers to the right of the joint. Glazed loading doors are situated to the left of the vehicular access. Ground floor levels are marked by a double row of rectangular sandstone blocks. Four long tie plates are located at second-floor level.

The interior of the southern three bays is iron-framed; columns support beams on both the ground and first floors, and an iron-framed strong room is built into the ground floor, south of the inserted passage. The northern bays retain some jack arches.

Historically, this building was part of Matthew Murray's Round Foundry, the first and best-preserved example of a fully integrated engineering works dating from the Industrial Revolution. In 1816, a boiler and steam engine were installed at the north end, powering machinery for turning small lathes, grinding the center of wheels, and tapping screws; this was later rebuilt. The range to the south of the straight joint is likely the one depicted on a map of 1815, where a route existed between the fitting-up shop and the foundry to the north, which was filled in by 1841.