Centaur Clothing Factory

The Centaur Clothing Factory, located on Great George Street in Leeds, dates to 1889. Constructed of red brick with ashlar and carved stone detailing, wrought ironwork, and a slate roof, it occupies a prominent corner site. The building is six storeys high, with attics, and features a four-bay main facade, an eight-bay left return onto Leighton Street, and a three-bay right return onto Leighton Lane.

The corner entrance, at the left end of the main facade, is marked by fluted columns with foliate capitals and console brackets supporting an entablature and cornice, these forming imposts to a keyed arch. The arch is flanked by pilasters and rectangular openings with wrought-iron panels. Five steps lead up to a panelled inner porch. The four-window corner bay extends upwards to paired round-headed windows and a Dutch gable topped with a ball finial. To the right of the entrance are two paired windows, a projecting three-window bay with a semicircular gable window, a date plaque reading "1889," and a chimney. A massive semicircular five-window bay, featuring a truncated cone-shaped roof with wrought-iron openwork railing and lantern, completes the facade. The windows are segmental-arched on the first floor, with flat arches on the second, third, fourth, and sixth floors; some are paired with brick mullions between. A roll moulding runs along the first-floor sill level, and a cornice is present at the second and sixth-floor levels, extending around the left return and a single bay of the right return.

The left return has a factory entrance and three plain gables, alongside one with a Dutch gable. The right return has one Dutch gable and two plain gables. The interior remains uninspected. Historically, the building housed J. Campbell and Co., wholesale clothiers (1890-c1903), Gaunt and Hudson, hat and cap manufacturers and wholesale clothiers (c1905-c1927), Thos. Marshall and Co. (Marlbeck), costumiers (c1927-c1966), and subsequently Centaur Clothes Ltd, part of the Baird Textiles group by 1989. It later served as administrative headquarters until 1995. This represents an important purpose-built clothing mill that was a significant part of Leeds's early 20th century economy.