Victoria Leeds is a shopping district and leisure area in central Leeds, comprising the 1990 Victoria Quarter, an arcaded complex of restored 19th century and contemporary shopping arcades, and the 2016 Victoria Gate development. Notable for its role in the regeneration of Leeds' city centre, and a programme of restoration and reuse which included commissiong the largest work of stained glass work in Europe, designed by artist

Brian Clarke Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and conte ...

, to cover the newly-pedestrianised Queen Victoria Street, the 1990 scheme created a covered retail district of linked arcades. In 2016 ,the Victoria Quarter was merged with the newly built Victoria Gate complex to form the largest premium retail and leisure venue in Northern England. The district includes a casino and major stores such as

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

and

John Lewis and Partners John Lewis & Partners (formerly and commonly known as John Lewis) is a brand of high-end department stores operating throughout the UK, with concessions also located in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. The brand sells general merchandis ...

Victoria Quarter

The

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Victoria Quarter is a network of interconnected, covered shopping spaces, forming an upmarket shopping district popularly known as 'the Knightsbridge of the North'. Created in a major redevelopment programme through the restoration of the existing Victorian and Edwardian arcades, and the creation of a contemporary arcade through the pedestrianisation and glazing over of the adjacent Queen Victoria Street with what was at the time the largest work of public art in England, and the largest secular stained glass work in the world, designed by artist Brian Clarke. Covering three blocks between

Briggate Briggate is a pedestrianised principal High Street, shopping street in Leeds city centre, England. Historically it was the main street, leading north from Leeds Bridge, and housed markets, merchant's houses and other business premises. It cont ...

and Vicar Lane, comprising County Arcade, Cross Arcade, Queen Victoria Street and King Edward Street, the Derek Latham & Company redevelopment opened as the Victoria Quarter in September 1990. The project is widely cited as an exemplar of successful and contextual urban regeneration, and in 1991 was awarded both the Leeds Award for Architecture and the Civic Trust Award. County Arcade Victoria Quarter Leeds 2

Early history

County Arcade and Cross Arcade were built by the Leeds Estate Company, who commissioned theatre architect Frank Matcham to design them as part of the Company's redevelopment of the east side of Briggate and west side of Vicar Lane, which the City Engineer had recommended, to Leeds City Council in 1896, be widened. Matcham's newly-constructed Empire Theatre, around which the arcades were built, was intended to form the focal point of a civic complex modelled on the Galleria in Milan. The “largest and most elaborate, and the latest constructed, of Leeds' 19th century and ''fin de siècle'' arcades, with construction begun in 1898 and completed in 1904, they were notable for their glazed barrel roofing decorated with copious amounts of faïence from the local Burmantofts Pottery, a number of

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s and plentiful use of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

. Matcham's development included the Empire Theatre and all three constructions were in the same style: three storeys decorated in a 'free baroque style' with pink and buff terracotta. In 1961, the Empire Theatre was demolished to make way for another arcade in contemporary style.

Redevelopment

Having become dilapidated, the County and Cross Arcades were restored by Derek Latham & Co in phases between 1989 and 1996, and Queen Victoria Street was glazed over in its entirety with a

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

canopy by British artist

, bridging the two elevations of Queen Victoria Street on a self-supporting stainless steel and glass, split-level structure that sits between the original, listed buildings by Matcham. In the redevelopment, the 1960s arcade that had replaced the Empire Theatre was demolished and replaced by a branch of

, which opened in 1996 as the first branch of the luxury store, now operating globally, outside London.

Stained glass

Cited as the largest work of public art in Britain at the time of its installation, the 749 square metre stained glass roof, which spans the length of Queen Victoria Street, was designed by painter

between 1988 and 1990 as an integral part of the development scheme. Architects Latham and Co. had previously worked with the artist on the restoration of the Cavendish Arcade in Buxton, completed in 1987, which entailed the restoration and reuse of a complex of historical buildings through the creation of a public shopping space, and the integration of monumental artwork. The canopy at Leeds, made of mouthblown glass, traditionally leaded, enamelled, acid-etched and assembled using the mosaic technique, was fabricated under Clarke's supervision in Germany, and then installed at Leeds over a period of six months, and remains the largest work of stained glass in Great Britain and in Europe. Its colour scheme was derived from the artist's study and adaptation of Frank Matcham's own colour palette in his designs for decorative glass. The abstract, gridded canopy is said to reference Leeds' heritage as a centre of the textile industry in its design.

Victoria Gate

Victoria Gate was built on an undeveloped site adjacent to Leeds Market. The £165 million covered shopping centre opened on 20 October 2016. The centre, fronting onto Eastgate, George Street and Harewood Street, comprises a large multi-storey car park, a John Lewis & Partners store, and a U-shaped covered pedestrian area of shops, restaurants, and cafes. The development incorporates Templar Square, a public space incorporating the listed Templar House.

History

A development known as Eastgate Quarters was announced in 2004, following several cancelled schemes for a site that had been derelict from the 1970s, located to the east of Leeds city centre. The 2004 Eastgate masterplan was developed by Terry Farrell and outline planning permission was obtained in 2007. A number of architects were appointed that year to design buildings in the masterplan, including the Jerde Partnership and Benoy for the Templar Arcade, Thomas Heatherwick for Harewood Quarter,

ACME Acme is Ancient Greek (ακμή; English transliteration: ''akmē'') for "the peak", "zenith" or "prime". It may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Acme'' (album), an album by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion * Acme and Septimius, a fictional ...

for the John Lewis Store and McAslan for buildings along Eastgate. The scheme was put on hold in late 2008. In 2010 Hammerson announced that work had commenced on a revised masterplan and in March 2011, an outline planning application for Eastgate Quarters developed by ACME was submitted to Leeds City Council. On 13 July 2011, planning permission was granted for the Hammerson scheme to proceed.

Gallery

File:VICGATE John Lewis LEEDS.jpg, Victoria Gate car park (left) and John Lewis (right) File:Victoria Quarter Leeds modern abstract stained glass arcade ceiling by Brian Clarke, 1990.jpg, Detail of the stained glass canopy which spans the length of the Victoria Quarter's Queen Victoria Street arcade File:Modern abstract stained glass canopy of Victoria Quarter Leeds arcade by Brian Clarke, 1990.jpg, Stained glass ceiling of Victoria Quarter File:Opening day, Victoria Gate, Leeds (20th October 2016) 004.jpg, Opening day of Victoria Gate File:Blue plaque, County Arcade, Leeds (1st December 2017).jpg, Blue plaque, County Arcade, Leeds (1st December 2017)

Notes

References

External links

Official Website
{{Shopping centres in Yorkshire and the Humber Shopping centres in Leeds Leeds Blue Plaques Brian Clarke Architecture of Leeds