Old Hall Part Of Devonshire Hall Of Residence University Of Leeds

Old Hall, part of Devonshire Hall of Residence, University of Leeds

Formerly known as Regent Villas, this building comprises a pair of semi-detached houses on Cumberland Road in Headingley, now converted to university hall of residence offices and meeting rooms. Built in the mid-19th century, the structure is constructed of coursed squared hammer-dressed gritstone and ashlar with a slate hipped roof.

The houses are arranged back-to-back in plan, comprising two storeys with basement and attics. Entrances are positioned on the south and north sides, with the latter entrance altered when a linking structure was built to connect with Devonshire Hall.

The unaltered south side is articulated across six bays, with the entrance located in a projecting hipped bay (bay 4). The entrance features a glazed door with two panels and a plain fanlight set within a moulded keyed surround. Heavy console brackets support a deep cornice and pierced entablature decorated with a pattern of alternating large and small roundels, which is repeated on the first-floor sill bands and parapet on the north side. Ground-floor windows comprise 2, 3 and 4 round-arched lights in moulded architraves, while the first floor has 2 and 3-light square-headed windows. Bracketed eaves are present, with the left two bays having a separate hipped roof. A gabled dormer projects from the right, and tall moulded stacks rise to the left and right of the ridge at the rear.

The north side is similar in treatment but features an added projecting bay to the right of the entrance, which accommodates a basement and large music room. Round-arched lights light the ground floor on this elevation. The east, or garden front, comprises three bays with 1:3:1 window arrangement, with the outer hipped-roof bays projecting. Three evenly-spaced moulded ashlar stacks rise forward of the ridge on the centre bay. Behind the ridge are two wooden lanterns, which light the stairwells and feature eaves brackets and pyramid roofs. The west side contains former service entrances with steps at the centre, with the outer bays projecting.

The interior of the north house displays fine detailing. A painted glass panel in the west window of the former lobby features a coat of arms and the motto "INTER.CRUCES.TRIUMPHANS.IN.CRUCE". Inner double doors, margin lights and overlight all incorporate fine engraved glass panels. The hall features a polychrome tile floor, probably by Minton, marble-lined walls with marble panels and architraves, and 4-panel doors. A triple-arched doorway into the Fenton Room, to the right, is supported by marble columns and opens through double 6-panel doors with margin lights. The wooden staircase comprises three straight flights with alternating wide and slender vase balusters and a broad moulded handrail. The staircase walls are lined with richly patterned moulded tiles to dado rail, and possibly original moulded wallpaper, now overpainted. The Fenton Room contains a fireplace of veined brown marble with attached moulded columns.

Originally built as Regent Villas, probably numbers 3 and 4, this pair was constructed alongside another pair of houses and a gatehouse, all now part of the Devonshire Hall complex. The group was possibly designed by John Child. The earliest Directory entry for the group dates to 1872, when residents included Mrs Mary Dickinson, Joseph Dickinson Thorp (corn miller), Mary Ann Thorp, Charles Ryder (brewer), and John Whiting (Manchester warehouseman). The 1890 Ordnance Survey map shows the layout of drives from the gatehouse to each entrance, with a route around the south and west sides of the grounds to the coach house. By 1894, residents included Henry Paterson (flax spinner), John Shephard (machine tool maker), George Dalton (machine maker), Charles Dennison Heaps (lead merchant), and Mrs Sarah Marsden.