Leeds Mechanics' Institute was a mechanics' institute founded in 1824 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, [1] and is one of the predecessor institutions of Leeds Beckett University [2] and Leeds Arts University.
Leeds Mechanics' Institute was a mechanics' institute founded in 1824 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, [1] and is one of the predecessor institutions of Leeds Beckett University [2] and Leeds Arts University.
The institute was founded by members of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society who wished to offer educational opportunities to the working class. Initially it occupied two rooms, a library and a lecture room, in a house on Park Row. [3] [4] [5]
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By 1907 most further education in Leeds was in the hands of the council, with the establishment of the Leeds College of Art, Leeds College of Technology (later Kitson College) and Leeds College of Commerce (later Park Lane College). [5] The main activities of the Leeds Institute, as it was now named, after 1907 included a lecture series, a library for its subscribers, and a cafe. The Leeds Institute struggled financially and in 1912 obtained the permission of the Charity Commission to sell its building and land to Leeds Corporation, for a sum ("not less than £39,000") large enough to clear its debts. It arranged to rent the building from the corporation. In 1940, the Leeds Institute had a dwindling membership and was unable, due to war-time restrictions, to hold its usual evening lectures. It went into voluntary liquidation and ceased to exist, with the lease on the building being surrendered to the landlord, Leeds Education Committee, for £2,310 9s 6d on 21 May 1940. [5]
A 2019 thesis from the University of Huddersfield includes a "genealogy" diagram showing the intermediate stages by which the Mechanics' Institution (its initial name) led to the formation of Leeds Beckett University and Leeds Arts University, while its premises now house Leeds City Museum. [6] : 265
The Leeds Mechanics' Institute building, designed by Cuthbert Brodrick, was built in 1865–1868 in Cookridge Street. [7] The building is now grade II* listed, [8] and since 2008 has been the home of Leeds City Museum. [9] Before housing the museum, the building had several educational and cultural uses, including housing Leeds Civic Theatre and some departments of what was then the Leeds College of Music.
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire to the south, Greater Manchester to the south-west, and Lancashire to the west. The city of Leeds is the largest settlement.
Mechanics' institutes, also known as mechanics' institutions, sometimes simply known as institutes, and also called schools of arts, were educational establishments originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men in Victorian-era Britain and its colonies. They were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees. The mechanics' institutes often included libraries for the adult working class, and were said to provide them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs.
The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made teaching quality a particular focus of its activities, winning the inaugural Higher Education Academy Global Teaching Excellence Award in 2017, and achieving a Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Gold Award, in 2017 and 2023. It has consistently been ranked among the leading universities in England for the proportion of its staff with a teaching qualification, and in 2022 was at the top with 94%. The University has also put an increasing focus on research quality, and as of 2022 more than three quarters of its academic staff hold a doctorate, the third highest rate in England.
Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The university's origins can be traced to 1824, with the foundation of the Leeds Mechanics Institute. Leeds Polytechnic was formed in 1970, and was part of the Leeds Local Education Authority until it became an independent Higher Education Corporation on 1 April 1989. In 1992, the institution gained university status. The current name was adopted in September 2014.
Hunslet is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of the city centre and has an industrial past.
St James's University Hospital is in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England and is popularly known as Jimmy's. It is one of the United Kingdom's most famous hospitals due to its coverage on television. It is managed by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Leeds Corn Exchange is a shopping mall in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The structure, which was commissioned as a corn exchange, is a grade I listed building.
Cuthbert Brodrick FRIBA was a British architect, whose most famous building is Leeds Town Hall.
Millennium Square is a city square in the Civic Quarter of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was Leeds's flagship project to mark the year 2000, and was jointly funded by Leeds City Council and the Millennium Commission. Total cost of production was £12 million.
The Durham University Library is the centrally administered library of Durham University in England and is part of the university's Library and Collections department. It was founded in January 1833 at Palace Green by a 160 volume donation by the then Bishop of Durham, William Van Mildert, and now holds over 1.6 million printed items. Since 1937, the university library has incorporated the historic Cosin's Library, founded by Bishop Cosin in 1669. Cosin's Library and the Sudan Archive held at Palace Green Library are designated collections under Arts Council England's Designation Scheme for collections of national and international significance; two collections at Durham University Oriental Museum, the Chinese collection and the Egyptian collection, are also designated.
Leeds Town Hall is a 19th-century municipal building on The Headrow, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Planned to include law courts, a council chamber, offices, a public hall, and a suite of ceremonial rooms, it was built between 1853 and 1858 to a design by the architect Cuthbert Brodrick. With the building of the Civic Hall in 1933, some of these functions were relocated, and after the construction of the Leeds Combined Court Centre in 1993, the Town Hall now serves mainly as a concert, conference and wedding venue, its offices still used by some council departments. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1951.
Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance". Its collection also includes 19th-century and earlier art works. It is a grade II listed building owned and administered by Leeds City Council, linked on the West to Leeds Central Library and on the East via a bridge to the Henry Moore Institute with which it shares some sculptures. A Henry Moore sculpture, Reclining Woman: Elbow (1981), stands in front of the entrance. The entrance hall contains Leeds' oldest civic sculpture, a 1712 marble statue of Queen Anne.
Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, reopened in 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Cookridge Street. It is one of nine sites in the Leeds Museums & Galleries group.
Leeds Civic Trust is a voluntary organisation and registered charity established in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England in 1965. Affiliated to the national charity Civic Voice, its stated purpose is "to stimulate public interest in and care for the beauty, history, and character of the city and locality, to encourage high standards of design, architecture and town planning; [and] to encourage the development and improvement of features of general public amenity".
The City of Leeds Training College was a teacher training college established in 1907 at Beckett Park in Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. After merging with the Carnegie College of Physical Education in 1968 it was renamed the City of Leeds and Carnegie College. It became one of the principal constituent institutions of Leeds Beckett University.
Headingley Hill Congregational Church is a redundant Unitarian church at the corner of Headingley Lane and Cumberland Road, in the Headingley area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The church, which is a Grade II listed building, was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Cuthbert Brodrick and completed in 1866. It was the only church to have been designed by Brodrick, who is noted for Leeds Town Hall and the Corn Exchange.
Wells House is a large former hydropathic establishment and hotel in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England, now used as private apartments. It was built in 1854–56 to a design by the architect Cuthbert Brodrick and is a Grade II listed building. It is located above the town on Wells Road at the edge of Ilkley Moor, giving it an unobstructed view across Wharfedale from its north front. It was originally set in grounds by the landscaper Joshua Major though these gardens have mostly been built on since.
Frederick Stead Brodrick was an architect based in Kingston upon Hull, England.
Keighley College is a further education college in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. It traces its origins to Keighley Mechanics' Institute, founded in 1825. It has previoiusly been part of Park Lane College Leeds and Leeds City College, branded as their Keighley Campus, but is now a freestanding college, within the Luminate Education Group.
53°48′06″N01°32′49″W / 53.80167°N 1.54694°W
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