Austhorpe Hall

Austhorpe Hall is a country house dating from 1694, with alterations made in the mid-19th century. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and has a hipped stone slate roof featuring a heavy wooden modillion cornice. The house is two storeys high, with cellars and attics; it has seven bays. Quoins are present. The central bay is pedimented and projects slightly, containing one window in the upper storey and the main entrance on the ground floor. The panelled front door has an overlight within an eared architrave, a pulvinated frieze, and a plaque inscribed with “J MORE/ 1694” beneath a broken pediment. Seven windows are set within eared architraves, with vertical pairs contained within projecting panels incorporating stone quoins. The windows are mullioned and transomed, with leaded panes; some are likely original. Chimneys are located on the end ridges.

The interior follows a cross-corridor, direct-entry plan and has fine detailing to doors, retaining original latches and L- and butterfly hinges. There are few later alterations. The central hall features a fireplace with a cast-iron grate in a plain stone surround, and a timber and moulded plaster ceiling. A blocked fireplace exists at the opposite end. A round archway with double doors opens onto the staircase, which is likely from the mid-19th century, characterised by square balusters, turned newels, and a ramped handrail. The original staircase was removed and is now located at The Grange, Seacroft. The front room on the right has panelled walls, a ceiling cornice, and plaster ceiling decoration featuring leaf mouldings. Blocked windows on the right return, one serving as a cupboard. The front room on the left has two windows to the front, shutters, fielded panelling, and a bolection-moulded black stone fireplace. It opens through double doors into the rear left "smoking room," which has one window, shutters, panelling, and a corner fireplace. From the "smoking room" a doorway leads to a stone-flagged corridor, with a semicircular west window with glazing bars and stone steps at the east end.

On the first floor, the left-hand room has full-height panelling and a ceiling cornice. A bolection-moulded fireplace is also present. A small, panelled room off this main room is lit by two rear windows; the partition wall meets the central mullion of one of these windows. The main room at the centre front has panelled walls, a bolection-moulded fireplace with a shelf above, and several windows. Front right, two windows are present, with two blocked windows in the side wall, one serving as a cupboard. A corner fireplace and moulded ceiling cornice are also here; a rear right room has one window on the right return. A secondary staircase rises from the rear corridor to the attics, displaying turned balusters, square newels, and console brackets.

The cellars below the rear rooms contain the base of a stone newel stair and brick-arched rooms lit by two-light straight-chamfered mullioned windows. One door is constructed from 17th-century framed panelling. John Cossins' map of Leeds from 1725 illustrates the merchants' houses built during Leeds’ development as a centre for cloth production and export. This single-story version is a rare survival.