Chapel Allerton (Gledhow Grove Mansion) - Leeds - Sep 2016

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Hippie Alien

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History

Gledhow Grove Mansion was built in the 1830's by John Clark and Chapel Allerton Hospital was built in its grounds. The hospital was founded in 1927, to care for war casualties from World War I. In 1953 the hospital was transferred to the Ministry of Health and developed as a general hospital. In 1975 when the new hospital was built, all but the mansion was demolished.

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I used to work at Chapel Allerton Hospital. The mansion contained the offices and the nurses quarters. There was also a staff social club in there. Some pretty good parties. I was a porter so didn't get invited - but if you were on night shift they'd let you in and you could help yourself to beer.
I presume there's a preservation order on it. There was a plan to build a supermarket on the site a few years ago but the locals kicked off. The rest of the hospital was knocked down and new houses built. There was no firm agreement with the developers about Gledhow Grove, so they've let it rot. More here.
Leeds Civic Trust - Former Hospital, Chapel Allerton
 
Sadly another case of 'let's build a fine looking structure on the outside, but save all you can on the internal structures'. Listing compounds the problem and leaves future owners/developers with a huge conservation/development bill that is not a viable commercial consideration. As I have previously mentioned, many such structures were demolished at the end of WW11 when they were released from wartime usage. It is a bit of a myth that these country mansions were well built/constructed - many were built on very tight budgets. What the eye did not see, did not need to be finely constructed - some of the worst building techniques I have seen have been in Georgian properties. Many years ago I lived in a flat situated on the first floor of a Georgian house on a terrace in Derby - it was one of a number purchased by my landlord's mother after the end of WW11, when some Ministry department released them from housing refugees. Given the house as a 21st present a few months before I arrived in Derby to work, he was in the process of doing it up and had removed it from the letting agency books. However the agency still gave me the address; stating that I had no objections to living in a building site for a few months, I got a very nice flat at a reduced rent and helped him with the work. We could never understand why the floor of my sitting room - originally the major bedroom in the house, was so springy. Lifting the floorboards to put in ceiling lights in the landlords ground floor flat, revealed that all the floor joists in the room had over lapping joints, held by 6" nails, down the middle of the room. The builders had just used up short lengths of timber in that area of the property, but fortunately we were able to fasten the joints with coach bolts and clamping plates and solved the problem!
 
It is a bit of a myth that these country mansions were well built/constructed - many were built on very tight budgets. What the eye did not see, did not need to be finely constructed - some of the worst building techniques I have seen have been in Georgian properties.

It was Georgian architectural tradition for the frontages of wealthy houses to be designed and constructed by eminent architects and builders using top of the range materials, and for the rest to be designed and built by apprentices. Walk around some of the back alleys of Bath and you'll soon see how well this works out! Some of the most stunning building frontages in Britain, tied to some of the ugliest ass backwards buildings. The only reason it doesn't look hideous is because of the policy that everything had to be constructed from Bath stone.
 

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