Sycamore Lodge

Sycamore Lodge is a house, built around 1860 and converted to offices in the late 20th century. It is located on Woodhouse Cliff in Leeds. The house is constructed of red brick in a stretcher bond pattern, with ashlar detailing and a slate roof. It is two storeys high, with three bays, the central bay featuring a three-story tower. An entrance is located in the right return of the tower, and the right bay is set back. Quoins are present. The architecture is of the Italianate style. The modern double entrance doors are set within a round arch, featuring rusticated voussoirs and a carved female head on the keystone. The tower windows are round-arched, single and paired. The top storey of the tower has a stone-bracketed balcony with a cast-iron rail, and a pyramid roof with an ornate cast-iron finial. A carved stone plaque above the first-floor window depicts a sailing ship and the motto 'TUTUS IN UNDIS' ('safety on the waves') along with the initials 'EW'. Bays one and three have a canted bay window with a pedimented blocking course to the ground floor, and a segmental-arched sash in an architrave with console brackets and a cornice featuring a carved plaque to the first floor. The left bay has a gable, deep bracketed eaves, and end stacks. The left return has three uneven bays, with the central bay projecting and rendered; a single light is present to the ground floor, and the three first-floor windows are set within round-arched architraves. Inside, the entrance lobby and stair hall feature egg-and-dart mouldings, moulded ceiling cornices, six-panel doors, and an oak staircase with carved newel posts. Edward Wood, a manufacturing chemist, likely commissioned the house. He was a partner in the firm of Wood and Bedford of Kirkstall Road, and James Bedford resided at Sycamore Lodge. In 1876, James and his brother Charles reportedly made the first telephone conversation in Britain between the upper floor of the house and an outhouse. James Bedford continued to live at Sycamore Lodge in 1881; the family included the architect Francis Bedford.