Numbers 17, 18 And 19 And Attached Railings

Numbers 17, 18, and 19 are three houses, now used as offices, located on the north side of Park Place in Leeds. They were built in 1791 by William Hargrave for J.T. Vincent, a gentleman, and were restored in 1988. The area railings for No. 17 are from the late 19th century. The houses are constructed of red brick with stone details and feature cast-iron area railings. The buildings are three storeys tall and form a single composition with three, five, and three bays.

The central block, No. 18, has a central doorway flanked by three-quarter Tuscan columns, a fanlight, and a pediment. The windows are sash style with glazing bars and slightly cambered wedge lintels, set in round-arched recesses that create an arcade with impost moulding on the ground floor. Above the first-floor band, six giant Ionic pilasters rise, with a blind balustrade below the first-floor windows. The restored entablature, cornice, and pediment include a semicircular window in the tympanum. The flanking blocks have an arcaded ground floor at the center, restored doorcases, plate-glass sashes, and raised lintels for the second-floor windows, with restored parapets.

The interior of the buildings has not been inspected. The railings for No. 17 feature standards with ball finials, bars with scrolls, and acorn finials, and their size and style are similar to those at Nos. 5-7 at the east end of Park Place. William Hargrave constructed these houses on land leased from the Wilson estate, renting them out to merchants and gentlemen who were moving away from the congested medieval town center.