Quarry Hill, Leeds
Coordinates: 53°47′53″N 1°31′52″W / 53.798°N 1.531°W
Quarry Hill is an area of central Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road in the east and north and the Leeds - York / Hull railway in the south.
History
Quarry Hill was originally an inner-city area of Leeds. Between 1938 and 1978 Quarry Hill was the location of what was at the time the largest social housing complex in the United Kingdom. The building was designed in 1934 by R.A.H. Livett (1898-1959), the Director of Housing and later City Architect for Leeds. Its design was influenced strongly by modernist developments in Europe, specifically the Karl-Marx-Hof in Vienna, Austria, and La Cité de la Muette in Paris, France.[1] The development was noted for its sheer size and also modernist design. It had then radical and modern features such as solid fuel ranges, electric lighting, a state-of-the-art refuse disposal system (Garchey) and communal facilities. Due to social problems and poor maintenance, the Quarry Hill Flats were demolished in 1978.
Current
Since the 1980s, Quarry Hill has been a focus for regeneration within Leeds, and today is home to the West Yorkshire Playhouse which opened in 1990, Quarry House (a Department of Health/Department for Work and Pensions building with a social/leisure complex, which opened in 1993) the BBC Yorkshire building and the Leeds College of Music. Century Square and the Playhouse Square are located at Quarry Hill. The regeneration has seen Quarry Hill become disassociated with East Leeds, and become part of central Leeds.
In the media
The flats were shown in the opening sequence of the popular 1970s sit-com Queenie's Castle (1970-72) which starred Diana Dors.[2][3]
Further reading
- Mitchell, Peter (1990). Memento Mori: Flats at Quarry Hill, Leeds. Skipton: Dalesman Publishing. ISBN 9781870071482.
- Ravetz, Alison (1974). Model estate: planned housing at Quarry Hill, Leeds. London: Croom Helm. ISBN 9780856641657.
References
- ↑ Wrathmell, Susan (2005). Leeds. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 171. ISBN 9780300107364.
- ↑ Wainwright, Martin (4 October 2004). "My Leeds". The Guardian (London). p. 14.
- ↑ "Slideshow: Hidden six decades, RAF's eye view of Leeds". Weekly News (Leeds). 9 October 2013.
External links
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