Thorntons Arcade

LEEDS

SE3033NW THORNTON'S ARCADE 714-1/76/398 Nos.1-28 (Consecutive) 05/08/76

GV II

Includes: Nos.34 AND 36 LANDS LANE. Includes: Nos.78 AND 80 BRIGGATE. Shopping arcade. 1877-78. By George Smith for Charles Thornton, carved figures by JW Appleyard of Leeds. Restored 1990-92. Brick, English bond 1:5, stone dressings; decorative slate roof; cast-iron glazed roof to arcade. 3 storeys. Gothic Revival style. A narrow arcade opening from Briggate, the principal facade, and Lands Lane. Briggate facade: high pointed-arch arcade entrance, tall 3-light pointed-arch windows above with pilaster shafts and 'THORNTON'S ARCADE' in raised letters; pavilion over with corbelled and carved cornice and chateau-type roof. Flanking C20 shop fronts, large segmental arch recesses containing 3-light windows, the 2nd floor with pointed arches, carved male heads, cornice and parapet above. Lands Lane facade: painted C20 shop fronts to ground floor flanking central pointed arch, recess above with 2 male heads and 3 tall windows, tall gable with raised letters 'T 1877 A' and a poppy-head finial; flanking bays have 3 windows to first floor and a row of 5 lancets to 2nd floor, pierced balustrade. INTERIOR: the west entrance arch is surmounted by a mechanical tableau of 4 figures from Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Ivanhoe' with clock and bell; cast-iron glazed roof supported by pointed arches with pierced tracery and animal heads. Later C20 shop windows to ground floor, Gothic-style arches to 1st floor, round plaques in the spandrels; pointed sash windows to 2nd floor 'clerestory' level. Charles Thornton was the landlord of the Old Swan Inn off Briggate and built the New Music Hall, later the City Varieties (qv) and Thornton's Buildings, The Headrow (qv). In 1875 he applied to build Thornton's Arcade on the site of the Old Talbot Inn yard and amended plans were approved in 1877. The arcade is the first of this characteristic shopping facility built in the city. (Heap A: The Headrow, a Pictorial record: Leeds: 1990-: 40).

Listing NGR: SE3021733693