Archive | July 2023
July 10, 2023  

West Grove House, Bramley, Leeds

Victorian mini-mansion to be demolished for 8 houses in Bramley:

https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RWJFEMJBL6K00

Looking at this historic maps of Bramley, this would appear to be West Grove House, which somehow survived the suburbanisation en-mass of Bramley. As such the house now sits within a matrix of semi-detached red brick former counsil housing behind high hedges and an estate wall.

I doubt this house would make it to Heritage England’s list, and with no heritage status the application is likely to be successful.

It seems odd that this is exactly the type of villa the high-end bespoke developers are trying to emulate with their new builds. Is it worth sacrificing for a net gain of 8 dwellings? Probably not. Conversion into flats would offer a similar return, and the grounds are large enough to develop a couple more units.

West Grove House, as a country villa, and latterly subsumed into the suburb of Bramley. Source NLS

July 6, 2023  

Victorian Buildings in Leeds’ South Bank

More of the scarce few heritage buildings are to be lost for the regeneration of Leeds’ South Bank:

https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=RVRNG2JBFIX00

By no means are these buildings of any particular merit, but they are the last few remnants of the industrial past of Holbeck, and should be used as a nucleus for the ongoing regeneration of the South Bank in Leeds, which is the largest regeneration project in Europe.

To denude the entire site (which is the size of the existing City centre) of any buildings that link to the past will make it impossible for any new development to inherit an identity. Just around the corner in Holbeck Urban Village is a great success story predicated on heritage-led regeneration. These are the buildings that micro-breweries and vegan cafes want to occupy.

This application follows a similar one from last year which saw another Victorian block removed. This was a natural cultural nucleus of what will be a massively dense and populated urban quarter. The site of the old brewing industry for the city, it means a lot to Leeds, and these few remnants should be integrated into the modern urban form that will emerge.

There really isn’t much left of the Victorian building stock in the South Bank. Source NLS.