Church Of St George

SE2934SE 714-1/74/195 26/09/63

LEEDS GREAT GEORGE STREET (North side) Church of St George

GV II

Anglican church. 1836-38. By John Clark. Apse added c1890, by Henry Walker. Ashlar, slate roof. Gothic Revival style. PLAN: nave and aisles of 8 bays, 3-stage west tower, spire removed 1962; apse with traceried windows and crocketed finials; built on a podium which housed the crypt and burial vaults, with pointed-arch windows (C20 frames), and buttresses between. EXTERIOR: west end: steep flight of stone steps flanked by octagonal moulded piers rise to walkway over the podium; the tower has diagonal buttresses and west entrance with ogee crocketed arch dripmould, 3-light plate tracery window above; clock at 3rd stage. Tall lancet windows to aisles have hoodmoulds. Plain parapet, shallow pitch roof. East end: a wall approx 3m high and with octagonal crenellated piers screens 2 straight flights of steps: those to left rise to walk way over podium, those to right rise to a pointed-arch doorway at NE corner of church. INTERIOR: galleries removed 1989 during refurbishment; apse with large painted panel by Charles Cope, RA, 'All Nations looking unto Christ'; a memorial window centre of S wall has some original stained glass in medallions and was a memorial to Christopher Beckett, 'one of the principal founders', (see below). Queen-post roof spanning full width has carved details and Gothic arches. Undercroft has shallow segmental vaults which retain original divisions for the stone coffin shelves which were removed c1962; chamfered round-arched openings from burial vault area to west end of crypt. The church was built on part of Christopher Beckett's Mount Pleasant estate as part of the development of the Clarendon Road-Woodhouse Square area by the Atkinsons c1825-40 for which John Clark designed several large houses, all in Greek style. The undercroft contained 700 stone recesses for coffins, there was no graveyard, and 300 were occupied in 1962. The undercroft was first altered by the vicar, Don Robins (d.1948) who established a refuge and advice centre for unemployed men in the 1930s. (Beresford, M: East End, West End: 1988-: 337; Victorian Society Walk No 4: Douglas, J & Powell, K: Leeds: Three Architectural Walks, 2nd Edition: 1988-: 16; Francis, A: Out of the Dust: 1985-: 37).

Listing NGR: SE2951734009