Wellington Station, entrance help?

sirjohn · Post by **sirjohn** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 12:41 am

Phill_dvsn wrote: This photo shows your building nicely.This photo was taken on the 14th April 1897, It shows the construction of City Square. Leeds was given the status of City by Queen Victoria in 1893, it was then decided to build the square. it looks like theres a very deep excavation inside the hoardings front and centre of this picture Phil....

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 12:51 am

They will be the underground toilets Sir John, mentioned several times on Secret Leeds over the years. They were fairly big by all accounts and even had baths. They were to become the Ministry of Home defence if London was taken over by the Germans in WW2. Well that's the story you can read on several articles on the internet anyway. There will be photos about of the steps leading down to them knocking about on Leodis.

pablo leeds · Post by **pablo leeds** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 12:53 am

wow are they still there? how are they accessed? can you link to the pics please.sorry im new to this site so this is all new and fascinating to me

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 1:15 am

pablo leeds wrote: wow are they still there? how are they accessed? can you link to the pics please.sorry im new to this site so this is all new and fascinating to me There still under there, but long since blocked off I'm afraid.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 1:18 am

Here's a good comparison shot. You can see the two lots of stairs leading down to the toilets. 26th May 1895. Interior view of Ladies toilets underneath City Square.

BIG N · Post by **BIG N** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 6:18 am

I know Phil - you answer one question and get asked a dozen more but - Was the Queens hotel rebuild a complete one starting again from the ground up or was it a major re-working of the existing building with new bits added on ?Also, while I'm at it - are the vaults and cellers in Bishopgate St under what is now the exit from New station street dated from the time of the re-build or are the part of the original hotel ?Sorry to keep picking your brains Phil but this is facinating stuff.

Phill_dvsn · Post by **Phill_dvsn** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 9:13 am

BIG N wrote: I know Phil - you answer one question and get asked a dozen more but - Was the Queens hotel rebuild a complete one starting again from the ground up or was it a major re-working of the existing building with new bits added on ?Also, while I'm at it - are the vaults and cellers in Bishopgate St under what is now the exit from New station street dated from the time of the re-build or are the part of the original hotel ?Sorry to keep picking your brains Phil but this is facinating stuff. Hi Big N. I had to laugh a little here at the part about answering one question and having to go to another I'll be the first to admit I'm no great authority on any aspect of Leeds, or it's history, infact my teacher at school said I needed wiring up to the mains to get any spark of interest out of me one parent evening, that must have been before I stopped bothering going altogether. I just look stuff up and try work it out from info and maps available really, I don't have any great degree in the subject at all I think collectively the whole of Secret Leeds really works well with their individual research and bits of memory. I'm amazed at some of the puzzle solving and interesting stories the S.L peeps have done over the years from minute clues. I think the only thing to beat us to date is solving the mystery of the skulls. But going back to your question, in my opinion the new Queens Hotel would have been a total new rebuild from the foundations upwards. Looking at the two comparison photos of the old and new hotel you can see they are a total different size, and I would imagine it would have been impossible to build a 1930's modern building onto an 1864 Victorian foundation. I'm sure there are photos of the Queens hotel under construction that show it was a steel girder construction, that would need a serious amount of foundation work to support it's framework.And I would assume the underground area you mention around Bishopgate would have been in existence from the day the railway was built. You can see the roadway towards the new station on both photos, and the construction, and material of that structure is in keeping with the original Victorian arches around that area.

Si · Post by Si » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 9:39 am

BIG N wrote: Was the Queens hotel rebuild a complete one starting again from the ground up or was it a major re-working of the existing building with new bits added on ? These two Leodis pictures clearly show the different size and footprint of the two Queen's Hotels.This one is 1931.Also note the original position of Leeds' cenotaph, since moved to the Headrow, by the art gallery.

Si · Post by Si » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 9:40 am

And this is 1964.

Post by **chameleon** » Fri 17 Feb, 2012 10:52 am

pablo, have a look at this thread with a poser set by one of our founder admins -http://www.secretleeds.co.uk/forum/Mess ... ighLight=1