16 July 2024
Probably fewer of us find reasons to visit the centre of Leicester these days but a dozen of the Society’s members did just that one fine July evening to discover the architectural treasures we can easily miss when we are focussed on the shop fronts or on avoiding other pedestrians, bikes and scooters. Our favourite guide, Steve Bruce, started the tour with a warning of sore necks as his subject this time was “Looking Up in Leicester”.
The Town Hall was a good place to start spotting two Leicester emblems that recur all round the city: the cinquefoil (a five-petalled flower) and the wyvern (a two-legged dragon). Across the square on Horsefair Street, the decorative façade of the Royal Hotel was preserved when the buildings behind were knocked down.
Granby Street has a fine jumble of Victorian buildings, of which Balmoral House was named to evoke Queen Victoria herself. This narrow building might look ecclesiastical but was in fact a boot and shoe factory. Opposite, Thomas Cook’s Temperance Hotel was built to a modest design and is now in a poor state but it deserves to be preserved. Also in a poor state but still open, the Grand Hotel was constructed in multiple phases. The elaborate “wedding cake” on the corner was by Amos Hall and the extension along Granby Street was by Orson Wright, whose monogram appears in two places. (Wright was also responsible for developing much of the terraced housing in Newfoundpool and South Wigston.) One of the city’s most beautiful buildings is the former News Room on the corner of Belvoir Street, which is covered with classical sculptures of the Greek Muses, the Fates and various representations of Arts, Industry and Trade.
Bank buildings were designed to appear solid and reassuring. Look out for the former Barclays on Gallowtree Gate, which features two hooded figures, one with eyes open and one with them closed, to represent your money being secure both day and night. Nearby, Steve elucidated us about those better-known landmarks, the Clock Tower and Lewis’s Tower, as well as the much-missed Brucciani’s.
High Street was widened in the Edwardian period to make room for electric trams so it offers some delights from the early 20th century if you raise your eyes above street level. They include the golden globe of the Electric Theatre, the glazed tiles advertising Butler’s chemists, and the former Singer Building with its Union Jacks and symbols of British dominions linked by the unbreakable chains of empire! Do go and explore for yourself.