Trail:

The Light

Click to enlarge
Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, 'The Light'

THE LIGHTGlossary Term in Woodhouse Lane designed by DLG in 2001 is the last and latest of the shopping arcades and may be seen as the inheritor of the Victorian tradition of shopping as entertainment rather than the 20th century enthusiasm for shopping precincts and department stores. Like the earlier arcades it uses a glass roof to enclose an existing street, Upper Fountaine Street, and links existing 1930s buildings along the Headrow by Sir Reginald Blomfield (which contained the Leeds Permanent Building Society, from whose newspaper the centre takes its name) to new buildings containing shops and restaurants, those facilities which so attracted the Victorian middle classes to Thornton's ArcadeGlossary Term. Rather than a theatre the new-build includes a multi-screenGlossary Term cinema, reached from the bright and airy raised 'promenade' level by an escalator, and above the restaurants and shops there are those essential benefits of modern city living- a health club and night club.

Glossary

Arcade

Series of arches supported by piers or columns (compare colonnade). Blind arcade or arcading: the same applied to the wall surface. Wall arcade: in medieval churches, a blind arcade forming a dado below windows. Also a covered shopping street.

Light

Compartment of a window defined by the uprights or mullions.

Screen

In a medieval church, usually set at the entry to the chancel. A parclose screen separates a chapel from the rest of the church. A rood screen was placed below a representation of the Crucifixion (called a rood).

Inside Explore Leeds:

Have you seen: