In his book Historic Architecture of Leeds, Derek Linstrum begins his entry on this building with the words, ‘One of the best-known exceptions to the rule of simple functional buildings for industry is Temple Mills.’ Which is true, though it doesn’t tell the whole story. Little could be further from the usual functional brick walls and repeating rows of regular windows of the normal Victorian textile mill than this facade, with its slightly sloping walls, massive columns with papyrus or lotus capitals, and winged solar discs. It’s riding a wave of the ancient Egyptian revival, and it’s the work of Joseph Bonomi, who came from Durham but had Italian ancestors on his father’s side. That father, also Joseph, was an architect, and there was a brother, Ignatius, who was a prominent architect too. The young Joseph was better known as an artist and Egyptologist. He would have been familiar with the temple at Edfu, on which the facade of Temple Mills was based. Massive and weatherbeaten, his building is one to stop you in your tracks, and no doubt the mill’s owner, John Marshall, wanted to make just such a memorable statement. In a city of big buildings, it more than holds its own.
‘You couldn’t make it up,’ as they say. But Bonomi, Combe, and Marshall did make it up, all 18 Egyptian columns and 66 glass domes and what was, when it was built, the largest room in Europe. So the mill was much admired, but it was never as successful as Marshall hoped. A slump in textile prices, together with a period of poor management and poorer industrial relations, saw the business decline and the mill was sublet in the 1870s. Empty and fragile now, it remains a memorial to the optimism and flair of its creators and the city as a whole, a place I’ve called Gigantic Leeds.
4 comments:
I have recently finished writing and publishing a novella, DI KUHIRA, where I briefly extol some of the architectural heritage of BRADFORD - particularly the largely-empty factories near the centre. I suspect that there are themes there that are not very well represented in the South. I also found Huddersfield interesting and stimulating.
Bradford looks an interesting place. I was already thinking it might be a good goal for my next northern excursion, which may have to wait until the spring now.
I visited Marshall's Mill a few years ago. It is an impressive building that looked forlorn in a part of Leeds waiting to be redeveloped. Saltaire in Bradford is definitely worth a visit and there are buildings of interest in Huddersfield, I especially like the train station.
Stephen: Thank you. I've not been to Huddersfield, but have seen a picture of the railway station: it does look very impressive.
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