Britannia Buildings

LEEDS

SE2933NE OXFORD PLACE 714-1/75/276 (West side) 22/03/74 No.4 Britannia Buildings

GV II

Offices. 1868. Probably by Charles Fowler. Brick, English bond, slate roof. Gothic Revival style. 3 storeys over basement; 3 bays with 3:2:3 1st-floor windows. Central entrance with original panelled doors and pointed arch with paired attached columns and carved name: 'BRITANNIA BUILDINGS' over. Fenestration: slender columns with foliate caps support stone pointed arches; plate-glass sashes slightly recessed, 2-lights to centre and 3-lights to either side. Gables over end bays with small quatrefoil openings, similar piercing to short centre parapet which projects over a small canopy between the centre window, possibly a statue plinth. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORICAL NOTE: Charles Fowler was an engineer and surveyor who published a plan of Leeds in 1819. By 1845 he was described as an architect at No.17 Commercial Street (qv) and from 1867 his firm was in Britannia Buildings, probably designed by him. Considered to be the first purpose-built block of office chambers in Leeds, (Victorian Society Walks). (Linstrum, D: West Yorkshire Architects and Architecture: 1978-: 376; Victorian Society Walk No.4: Douglas, J & Powell, K: Leeds: Four Architectural Walks, 3rd Edition: 1988-: 16).

Listing NGR: SE2970133890