SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

It happens all the time carrotol.. The library could be used for any reasonable developement say offices or flats. To convert the library into a profitable number of flats without tearing down the whole interior that is listed, mezzanine, vestibules e.t.c it gives the developer a real headache of retaining & restoring all this to it's former glory with the huge cost involved. The sale of the flats would probably not even meet the cost of the developement. Likewise a top notch office in a listed building is great but who will pay the rent or cost of such a developement when they can have brand new office space at half the price? English heritage slap the listed building status on them & it nearly always works against them. Just look at this place herehttp://flickr.com/photos/phill_dvsn/sets/72157594569093407/

Phill_d wrote: Thanks Drapsey. glad you liked it.. Whats the owl above a lamp bit? A lamp in the library? Think i've missed that bit! Its not a real lamp - its in the mosaic itself. Looks a bit like a 'TOC H' lamp if you know what I mean.(pic from Kim Grant's mosaics site)

Ah gotcha now Drapsey.. It's like a genies lamp! We'll put the old owl up eh?You beat me too it

Whats the tale of the Leeds owl been our symbol then? Can't say i know!

in heraldry owls symbolise wisdom - so especially apt for a library. In the Leeds coat of arms they apparently derive from the Savile family coat of arms. http://www.leedscivictrust.org.uk/CoatofArms.htm

this is the Savile family coat of arms with said owls!

Top notch work there old chap! that's cleared that one up nicely. cheers I like the new top hat & tails avatar by the way!

"I thank you" (said in the style of Arthur Askey)

I may be wrong (it's been known!) but I thought grade II listing meant that you only have to keep the "silhouette" so to speak. So long as the exterior remains the same, you can do what you like to the interior. I used to work in Broderick's Buildings (on Cookeridge Street - opposite the Mechanics Institute - both designed by Cuthbert Broderick) and that was grade II. The inside was completely modern - an ad agency upstairs and a bar on the ground floor. My parents also had a 17th century house (grade II listed) with attached dry-stone barn in Thackley, and the new owners converted it into two houses.I assume the Savile family motto means fast as in steadfastness, and not speed!

I don't know whats really involved here Si. But look at all that plaster cornice work, marble clad walls, Burmantoft tiles, Oak vestibules, mosaic floors & glazed brick that split this building into several much smaller rooms. Any planning application that involves fellas taking a big hammer and flattening them has less chance of succeding than me winning the lottery 4 times in a row. To be honest it's not the exterior of the building thats anything special, Looks quite bleak around the back infact it's the interior that is (was) stunning.