SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Leodian's Pictures are an excellent document of the city for us to enjoy, and because he accurately documents the time and place of picture taking I would say they are an important historical documentation for future generations to refer to.

Thanks tyke bhoy and Tabbycat for your kind words.

In my post Jun 25, 2021 1:24 pm I mention Saint Albans Place. It was not until very recently that I became aware there used to be a St. Alban's Place and a St. Alban's Street. They ran off Wade Lane and are marked on at least an 1850 map and on a 1971-1984 map but, as far as I know, they no longer exist.

For interest and to help anyone not knowing the area with the major changes in recent years I have added a photo I took on June 25 2020 from the North Street/Vicar Lane junction. The step-like building is Vita St. Albans Place, the tall building to its right is the then under construction Altus House and the sloping roof building is Opal Tower (these 3 blocks are students accommodation flats). Part of the being redeveloped Centenary House (the old Public Dispensary) is on the right and the brown building in front of Altus House is (I think) the Q One private apartments. Apart from the construction of Altus House which now seems to be complete and the finished road works the scene is similar today.

I have attached 2 photos that I took of the site on August 13 2021 from Merrion Street. The first could be one of the last of the site before work starts to build students flats and so presumably Symons House will then not be so visible. The second has Fairfax House at the junction with Wade Lane, with some of the Merrion Centre in the rear.
It took some minutes to get shots without any traffic and no people directly in view!

Hi Leodian. There is a van in view . In all seriousness though I admire your patience in waiting for the clean shot. Unless it obliterates the shot, I wouldn't worry too much about the traffic, but you are right trying to exclude people in the foreground at least.

tyke bhoy wrote: ↑

Sun 15 Aug, 2021 10:01 am

Hi Leodian. There is a van in view . In all seriousness though I admire your patience in waiting for the clean shot. Unless it obliterates the shot, I wouldn't worry too much about the traffic, but you are right trying to exclude people in the foreground at least.

Hi tyke bhoy . Thanks for your kind words.

I know from experience that some people do not like to be filmed so I try to avoid getting anyone readily visible in photos in case they react unfriendly.

It certainly looks like Symons House won't be seen. According to the planning permission https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/onlin ... ab=summary the Santander building is being replaced by a part 4, part 10 and part 32 storey building. Meanwhile next door the disused bar of several names, but I only remember it as Harveys, is also to be demolished and replaced with a mixed use 4 storey building which will dwarf the Wrens on the end https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/onlin ... DKEJBGFJ00

tyke bhoy wrote: ↑

Mon 16 Aug, 2021 2:02 pm

It certainly looks like Symons House won't be seen. According to the planning permission https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/onlin ... ab=summary the Santander building is being replaced by a part 4, part 10 and part 32 storey building. Meanwhile next door the disused bar of several names, but I only remember it as Harveys, is also to be demolished and replaced with a mixed use 4 storey building which will dwarf the Wrens on the end https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/onlin ... DKEJBGFJ00

Hi tyke bhoy
Thanks for those links which had interesting information relating to the planning and related items.
There is clearly an expectation that there are not enough apartments for students and so ever more need to be built. Mind you, from what I've read I wonder how students can afford them! They are though mostly very luxurious such that I would not mind moving in!

I dont know about Leeds, but here in Reading there is alot of student accommodation going up, mainly privately funded, a lot of which seems to be (and in at least one case was stated to be) aimed at foreign well off students .

Leeds currently lays claim to 5 Universities. 1 a former Polytechnic, 2 former colleges (Jacob Kramer and Trinity & All Saints) and (an invention of the Internet and "for profit" age) University of Law which I believe has very small physical campuses dotted about the country.

I think only Trinity, Beckett and the original attract many students from far afield and mainly the latter 2 at that. Students now want more "bang for their buck" and therefore are looking for more luxurious surroundings that the more historical conventional houses of multiple occupancy.

How can they afford the luxury? Simple answer is most can't, Yet! Student Loans extends beyond the tuition fees, and scaled, by way of means testing, subsistence loans are available. Means testing is of the parents despite the fact the students are adults and the richer parents are also meant to top-up the smaller loans. The students with very rich, amd not estranged, parents will get fees and subsistence paid for them but those that don't could end up with approaching £50k of debt on a 3 year course, and that is not including any overdraft/credit card bills they also manage to accumulate. Although it is relatively low, interest is applied to the Student Loans and repayments only start as a percentage of any earnings above a certain threshold. I believe it is done by tax code. There is also a period (30 years?) after which any existing debt is written off. We are still far short of the first loans under the current system reaching that expiry but I believe research suggests very few will ever be repaid in full.

The construction work where the Santander Bank was on Merrion Street is going on. I have added a photo of that which I took from Merrion Street on August 31 2022. The second photo (taken the same day from Merrion Street) shows work going on at the nearby Fairfax House on Wade Lane.