SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

hi everyone. i'm a new user but have been lurking for a while now. what a great site this is. i've learned loads of really interesting things :-Di hope it's ok to kick of with a question? i apologise if its not the done thing if i haven't contributed yet...i pass the building below loads of times. i remember a story about it on the local news, about it being turned into apartments, and them showing the penthouse where the dome is and saying it was going to be £69,000. and i knew it was a while ago as i saw it at my then boyfriend's house (who is now my husband). plus the price of the apartment of coursei found these photos showing the work commencing...in 1999!http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?reso ... 404360well it looks pretty much the same now tbh. so were the apartments ever finished? if so why is it still be worked on? if not what happened to the people who bought one?also does anyone know what was there before? i'm sure part of it was something to do with ford cars as my dad worked for them and we used to park underground there when we went into town. but that was in the 70s so hardly ancient times, lolta in advance

Developers probably ran out of money.

simonm wrote: Developers probably ran out of money. well true...but i guess as there is scaffolding around it a the mo' then someone must be still working on it...otherwise they wouldn't be paying for it to be therei'm amazed that even if the original developers gave up the project that noone else took it over. it's been over 8 years. how many flats have been built in that time in leeds, both conversions and purpose built ones? i'm sure they'd still make a profit

Hi and welcome,Kierentc! Wot's the TC for? Surely not'Top Cat?' Sorry!XBeing an Old'un(!),I seem to recall that the buildingwas a Surgical Boot and shoe makers who werecontracted to the Orthopaedic departments of mostYorkshire NHS Hospitals to make bespoke footwearfor unfortunate patients with limb deformities andsuffering walking difficulties.I believe the firm's name was 'Henry Poole' and co Ltd,and the name stood out in large gold letters on that building,easily visible at the time, from the top of New Briggate and Vicar LaneCheersArry Awk(Ancient monument!)

hi 'arryit stands for 'the community', which is a name i use on other forums, and a pun stolen from terry wogan (kierenthecommunity...geddit?)not as in the merrion centre night spot lol (is it still there???)ta for the info

arry awk wrote: Hi and welcome,Kierentc! Wot's the TC for? Surely not'Top Cat?' Sorry!XBeing an Old'un(!),I seem to recall that the buildingwas a Surgical Boot and shoe makers who werecontracted to the Orthopaedic departments of mostYorkshire NHS Hospitals to make bespoke footwearfor unfortunate patients with limb deformities andsuffering walking difficulties.I believe the firm's name was 'Henry Poole' and co Ltd,and the name stood out in large gold letters on that building,easily visible at the time, from the top of New Briggate and Vicar LaneCheersArry Awk(Ancient monument!) hey up arry lad! do you mean poole and co? my gran used to work there,right up until the early 80s...she was well past retirement age,but then we have always been grafters....not like some of todays folk eh arry...good to see your still on 'ere mate.

From memory those were supposed to be being developed as 'affordable' flats to rent, with backing from some charity (which I think might have been the Rowntree foundation). It was supposed to deliver city centre living at a cost that ordinary people could afford, though at the time this was quoted at being around £100 a week (when rooms in shared houses in places like Woodhouse, equally close to the centre, would only be £40 a week) - so I'm not sure what the point was. It's a nice building so I hope they get it sorted out one way or another.

arry awk wrote: Hi and welcome,Kierentc! Wot's the TC for? Surely not'Top Cat?' Sorry!XBeing an Old'un(!),I seem to recall that the buildingwas a Surgical Boot and shoe makers who werecontracted to the Orthopaedic departments of mostYorkshire NHS Hospitals to make bespoke footwearfor unfortunate patients with limb deformities andsuffering walking difficulties.I believe the firm's name was 'Henry Poole' and co Ltd,and the name stood out in large gold letters on that building,easily visible at the time, from the top of New Briggate and Vicar LaneCheersArry Awk(Ancient monument!) Surgical boot makers? I stand corrected.

kierentc wrote: hi everyone. i'm a new user but have been lurking for a while now. what a great site this is. i've learned loads of really interesting things :-Di hope it's ok to kick of with a question? i apologise if its not the done thing if i haven't contributed yet... Welcome KiernenTC. While I can't speak for others, I think admin and the other users (well most anyway) would share the sentiment. Any first post is welcome whether it is a contribution to an existing thread or in this case a new questions. The new questions stimulate new discussions and bring back more memories for all of us lurkers or not. You might lurk a long time for someone else to ask and answer your questions so other lurkers be brave. The worst that could happen is DCSO or munki breathing fire

jf wrote: From memory those were supposed to be being developed as 'affordable' flats to rent, with backing from some charity (which I think might have been the Rowntree foundation). It was supposed to deliver city centre living at a cost that ordinary people could afford, though at the time this was quoted at being around £100 a week (when rooms in shared houses in places like Woodhouse, equally close to the centre, would only be £40 a week) - so I'm not sure what the point was. It's a nice building so I hope they get it sorted out one way or another. i think those were the caspar apartments directly oppositehttp://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIde ... _161737the crispin house ones were intended to be luxury ones if i recall correctly. £69k was a lot of money in 1999 loli also think when they were started flats in the city centre were still something of a rarity, hence the interest from the local news