9, Somers Street

LEEDS

SE2933NE SOMERS STREET 714-1/75/357 (East side) 21/02/92 No.9 (Formerly Listed as: SOMER STREET (East side) No.9)

GV II

Also known as: No.30 Workshop/warehouse to rear PARK SQUARE WEST. Workshop, warehouse and offices. Late C18, altered C20. Dark red brick, part rendered, slate roof. A 3-storey, 5 x 2 window block, gable to street. Original openings have segmental-arched heads. Street frontage rendered and lined in imitation of ashlar; blocked loading door right, a window directly above on first and 2nd floors, all with segmental arches; pedestrian door to left, C20 door and surround, square window directly above, 2nd floor. Left return: C20 openings to ground floor; first and 2nd floors: windows 1, 3, and 4 are wide, with segmental brick arches, 1 and 4 have 3-light flush frames, those on top floor are side-sliding sashes with glazing bars and are set just below the eaves; window 2 on each floor similar but square-headed. Window to far right, set at 2nd-floor level, is wide, segmental-arched and the 3-light flush frame retains glazing bars in upper third. INTERIOR: reputed to have original roof structure of queen posts clasping collar and one set of purlins, the tie beams set above the windows, and a change in floor level between front and rear of the building. The building stands to the rear of No.30 Park Square West (qv) and is the only surviving example of the type of commercial premises contemporary with the gentleman merchants' housing built on the Wilson estate between 1767 and c1820. Such buildings were used by the merchants as warehouses, hot press and packing shops where cloth bought at the Cloth Halls was prepared for despatch. The style is similar to the housing/workshops of the same date in Blayd's Yard, Briggate (qv). Surviving doorways and fenestration suggest that goods were loaded from the street, the upper windows possibly altered loading doors, and workshops were towards the rear of the building, well lit to first floor and within the roof space at 2nd-floor level. Map evidence suggests that this was the first structure built to the west of Park Square (Teal

plan 1793), the street frontage being built up after that date. (Beresford, M: East End, West End: Leeds 1684-1842: 131).

Listing NGR: SE2951933747