Abandonment in Leeds

[kpmarek]

Are there any large / interesting areas of abandonment / dereliction in the Leeds area at present?

I noticed what appeared to be an empty couple of blocks of terraced housing whilst in a taxi to a meeting recently. Seem to remember it being around the Whitehall Road area heading a bit out of the city. Would be interested in heading back there on foot to get some snaps. Anyone have a more exact location?

Would be particularly interested to know of any abandoned tower blocks awaiting demolition in Leeds? There might have been something not far from Crossgates train station but not sure if it's still standing???


I'll be heading up to W.Yorks from London later in the week. Hoping to get some abandonment photographs so trying to figure out where to go...


Can anyone help?

[lazygamer]

The closest tower blocks to Cross Gates station I can think of would be the Highways on York Road (in Halton/Killingbeck), as the line is just behind them in the Street View image here:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&...65.06,,0,-5.42

And they are very much still occupied. However, the land nearby where the petrol station, Little Chef and City Lights pub used to be are still abandoned, and recently surrounded by a security fence after the land was repeatedly occupied by travellers.

[Leeds No.1]

Not sure particularly of any sites of abandonment in terms of tower blocks, but for dereliction etc you can take a walk round Holbeck and you'll never be far from something like that. There's the viaduct, Marshalls Mill etc around there.

Mount St. Marys Church is a priceless location for what you're looking for. A completely abandoned but standing church. That's east of the City Centre- East Bank near East Street. There's also another abandoned church on St. Marks Road, not far from Woodhouse Lane towards Headingley.

All I can think of for now...

[cmj]

I think there is one on Headingley Lane near the Victoria Road junction; or maybe further up. Quite a big building; perhaps was a school once?

[Stefan88]

There are 5 derilict/abandoned tower blocks in Holbeck/Beeston. The smaller blocks in the photo below. The large brown one is still occupied, although I hope it's days are numbered. It's pig ugly.

There are more photos of these blocks on my flickr photostream, page 1

[Electric_City]

For a minute there, I thought this was going to be another gay thread...

[MattN]

You've got me flummoxed with Whitehall Road, but I'm not sure how the Leeds forumers forgot the enormous Hunslet/Victoria Mills complex on Atkinson Street and Goodman Street! Just up the road from there is the old West Yorkshire Foundries/Hydro on Clarence Road, and across the river quite a lot of demolition has been taking place on the St Hildas' at Cross Green (though it may all be finished now).

In Seacroft the concrete houses on the Askets are slowly being demolished, as are the strange flat-roofed terraced thingies on South Parkway.

Not sure if there's any derelict houses left on the Oak Trees in Gipton.

There's a strange pair of derelict houses on Oldfield Avenue in Wortley, surrounded by a large field. Stonebridge Mills on the corner of Stonebridge Lane and the Ring Road is still derelict I think.

Quite a lot of houses are unfortunately about to go on the Runswicks and Recreations in Holbeck.

There's a large old foundry on Uppermoor in Pudsey that was nearly demolished when work suddenly halted, and around the corner on Cemetery Road were Prospect Mills and the Grove Works but I think they're both gone now.

You've also just missed the lesser known Tower Works on Tower Lane in Armley AFAIK.

Additionally there's quite a few large areas of openness around Gipton, Halton Moor, Osmondthorpe and Middleton where houses/schools etc have been demolished and the sites left vacant, that give off a general air of decay and abandonment. Indeed a couple of random houses on the Thorpes and Acres in Middleton survived after all their neighbours had been demolished around 1997/8, but I think they all went in 2007/8. Examples: You've got me flummoxed with Whitehall Road, but I'm not sure how the Leeds forumers forgot the enormous Hunslet/Victoria Mills complex on Atkinson Street and Goodman Street! Just up the road from there is the old West Yorkshire Foundries/Hydro on Clarence Road, and across the river quite a lot of demolition has been taking place on the St Hildas' at Cross Green (though it may all be finished now).

In Seacroft the concrete houses on the Askets are slowly being demolished, as are the strange flat-roofed terraced thingies on South Parkway.

Not sure if there's any derelict houses left on the Oak Trees in Gipton.

There's a strange pair of derelict houses on Oldfield Avenue in Wortley, surrounded by a large field. Stonebridge Mills on the corner of Stonebridge Lane and the Ring Road is still derelict I think.

Quite a lot of houses are unfortunately about to go on the Runswicks and Recreations in Holbeck.

There's a large old foundry on Uppermoor in Pudsey that was nearly demolished when work suddenly halted, and around the corner on Cemetery Road were Prospect Mills and the Grove Works but I think they're both gone now.

You've also just missed the lesser known Tower Works on Tower Lane in Armley AFAIK.

Additionally there's quite a few large areas of openness around Gipton, Halton Moor, Osmondthorpe and Middleton where houses/schools etc have been demolished and the sites left vacant, that give off a general air of decay and abandonment. Indeed a couple of random houses on the Thorpes and Acres in Middleton survived after all their neighbours had been demolished around 1997/8, but I think they all went in 2007/8. Examples: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rikj/2233745346/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveyhoppers/380695488/ and the site today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveyhoppers/3762748879/

I'm going back up this weekend to visit the relatives and what not so I'll post if I can confirm any other sites. Hope this has been of interest. Contact me if you want any photos or more specific info for any of the other things I have mentioned.

[Suburban Knight]

Originally Posted by cmj

I think there is one on Headingley Lane near the Victoria Road junction; or maybe further up. Quite a big building; perhaps was a school once?

Several buildings - it's all part of the Leeds High School for Girls (now merged with Leeds Grammar School). The building you're prob thinking of is the Ellinor Lupton Centre.

[Suburban Knight]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

Not sure particularly of any sites of abandonment in terms of tower blocks, but for dereliction etc you can take a walk round Holbeck and you'll never be far from something like that. There's the viaduct, Marshalls Mill etc around there.

There are plenty of abandoned factories and industrial units S. of Sweet Street. Marshalls Mill, however, is refurbished and mostly occupied - are you sure you don't mean Temple Works?

[Leeds No.1]

Yeah I ment Temple Works.

[kpmarek]

Thanks for all the comments, really interesting and useful. Will be up in Leeds tomorrow so will hopefully get to a few of the suggested places. Won't have all that much time this time around though but sounds like there is enough of interest for a second trip up at some point soon!

[kpmarek]

Was a great trip up to Leeds last week and I was very lucky with the weather. Out of the above suggestions I decided to check out Holbeck as the abandoned tower blocks sounded interesting. They definately were! It turns out the abandoned terraced housing I saw previously was also there!

Some pictures...

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr



More on my Flickr.

[di Livio]

I suspected they were your flickr images. They're excellent. I love the one of Bridgewater Place captured between the two Holbeck tower blocks.

[pss53]

What's happening with holbeck ? Is it all being demolished...

Wish tesco or someone would buy the old kwik save, drive through holbeck a lot as it's a nice cut through rather than using J1 of M621...And would be handy to have a little shop there...

[MattN]

A lot of the directly street-fronting back-to-backs are being demolished around the Recreations and Runswicks I'm afraid, and all the tower blocks behind Holbeck Moor are being demolished. Not sure if anything else on that estate is.

[oyster]

Leeds: Vandal-hit towers set for demolition

Empty tower blocks and maisonettes that have become targets for anti-social behaviour on two Leeds estates are to be bulldozed.
Demolition of the properties in Little London and Holbeck will pave the way for two major regeneration projects.

Click here for a full run down of the 21 YEP community sites launched around Leeds to date.

The vacant homes stand on land to be redeveloped as part of the Hobeck and Beeston Hill and Little London Private Finance Initiative (PFI) housing projects.

The council's executive board is next week expected to approve the demolition of Holbeck Towers, Gaitskell Court and Grange in Holbeck as well as multi-storey blocks and selected maisonettes at Carlton Gate in Little London.

Work to knock them down will start ahead of schedule as tenants have been rehoused sooner than anticipated

Council bosses say that, since becoming empty, the blocks have attracted anti-social behaviour that has caused a nuisance for people living nearby.

With executive board approval, survey work and stripping out of the buildings can start, with demolition set for completion by July. The sites will then be levelled with hardcore and enclosed by a low fence until the PFI project gets underway.

Once appointed, the PFI contractor will be responsible for demolition on the remaining development sites, the building of new council homes, refurbishment of existing council homes, environmental improvements and a 20-year services contract.

Coun Les Carter, the council's executive board member for neighbourhoods and housing, said: "The early rehousing phases for the project have gone exceptionally well and I am delighted that all previous tenants are now settled and enjoying their new homes.

"However, we don't want to be a victim of this success by creating blight or a setting for crime and nuisance behaviour with properties staying empty longer than is necessary.

"This is why the council is working to bring down these properties at the earliest opportunity."

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.u...for.5900179.jp

[Val Verde]

Originally Posted by oyster

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.u...for.5900179.jp

So how long do we have to wait following the demolition of these flats until construction commences on whatever it is that is planned to replace them. Shame personally that they couldn't just re-do the flats to a reasonable standard personally considering the lack of social housing in Leeds as well as presumably a loss to relatively tall buildings in this corner of Leeds. Is there any indication of how many new houses will eventually be constructed in comparision to the soon to be demolished flats?

Are all those Victorian terraces in Holbeck which are boarded up also going to be demolished as part of these demolition works (unless they have already been demolished since I last passed by that area)?

[rabbits field]

Great photos, kpmarek!

[Molly]

I love your images! You are a great photogropher! Superb.

[rhinomatt]

Moved into Concord Street yesterday for 6 months. Love the apartment but not so fond of the buildings general concrete communist feel. Enjoying it so far however.