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53°47′53″N1°31′52″W / 53.798°N 1.531°W /53.798; -1.531Quarry Hill is an area ofcentral Leeds,West Yorkshire,England. It is bounded by theLeeds Inner Ring Road in the east and north and the Leeds – York / Hull railway in the south. The area falls within the City andHunslet ward ofLeeds City Council.
Quarry Hill was originally aninner-city area ofLeeds.
Threechurches have historically been located on Quarry Hill. The Old Boggart House[1] was the first purpose-builtMethodist chapel in Leeds.[2] It was demolished following the opening of the adjacent St Peter's Chapel in 1834. The site is marked by ablue plaque[3] on the steps leading to theLeeds Playhouse.
Quarry Hill EbenezerPrimitive Methodist chapel, originally called "Chapel Street Chapel", was opened in 1822,[4] new frontage was added in 1846 and the chapel was enlarged in 1874. It closed in 1933.[5] St Mary's Church,[6] aCommissioners' Church, architect Thomas Taylor,[7] was located on St Mary's Street. Located on the top of the hill, looking over New York Road towards the city centre, and known both as "St. Mary's Mabgate" and "St. Mary's Quarry Hill",[8] the site is now aDiocesan Office. The Sunday school remains, as does the burial ground, a green area sloping down toMabgate. A past resident of the Quarry Hill area wasMary Fitzpatrick, a robber and suspected murderer.[9][10]
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 byR. A. H. Livett (1898–1959), the Director of Housing and later City Architect for Leeds. Its design was strongly influenced bymodernist developments in Europe, specifically theKarl-Marx-Hof inVienna,Austria, andLa Cité de la Muette inParis,France.[11] The development was noted for its sheer size and 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 including a swimming pool.[12] Due to social problems and poor maintenance, the Quarry Hill Flats were demolished in 1978.[13]
Since the 1980s, Quarry Hill has been a focus for regeneration within Leeds, and today is home to the West Yorkshire Playhouse, now known asLeeds Playhouse, which opened in 1990; Yorkshire Dance,[14] established in 1982;[15] Quarry House (aDepartment of Health andDepartment for Work and Pensions building with a social/leisure complex, which opened in 1993); theBBC Yorkshire building; theLeeds Conservatoire (formerly Leeds College of Music);[16] and theNorthern Ballet building which opened in 2010. Centenary 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.
Quarry House was constructed on the site of the former Quarry Hill Flats.[17]
Leeds City College built a creative arts and health, care and public services campus, designed by Ellis Williams Architects, on the north-west of the site; this opened in September 2019.[18] Part of the college building is used by Leeds Conservatoire.[citation needed]
The sculptureRibbons, byPippa Hale, sits on the site.[19][20]
Quarry Hill is the area where the nurses work in The Steeple Street Trilogy by Donna Douglas. "Agnes finds herself facing unexpected challenges as she is assigned to Quarry Hill, one of the city's most notorious slums"
