Leeds: A whole of three parts

Modernist architects Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon understood the institutional fundamentals.

The University of Leeds started life in 1831 as the Leeds School of Medicine. In 1874 the second seat of learning was established in the city when The Yorkshire College of Science opened on Cookridge Street. Both of these institutions were what we would call civic – they grew out of local need – the nearest medical schools were in Scotland or London, and the locality was heavily reliant on the wool and textile trade.

In 1884, the College and the School of Medicine joined forces. Three years later, they merged with Owens College, Manchester and University College, Liverpool and became the Federal Victoria University. After Liverpool and Manchester established their own universities, Leeds followed suit and received its Royal Charter from King Edward VII, granting university status in 1904. The main campus is located 1.6km from the centre of Leeds and is situated on a steep site bounded by Leeds General Infirmary, Woodhouse Moor and Woodhouse Lane.

Some of the oldest campus buildings include the Great Hall (completed 1894), the Clothworkers Hall and the Baines Wing (1883). These three buildings were all the work of Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905), who famously designed London’s Natural History Museum, which opened in 1881, and the Neo-gothic Manchester Town Hall of 1877.

Buildings of the interwar period were by Henry Vaughan Lanchester (1863-1953), Thomas Geoffry Lucas (1872-1947) and Thomas Arthur Lodge (1888-1957), who were university architects from 1926 until 1958. Their work includes the Brotherton Library (completed 1936) and the Parkinson Building (1937-1951); submitted in the University’s Architectural Prize Scheme of 1926. Their work is characterised by its civic style, and the stout Portland Stone Parkinson campanile is a real landmark in the city, even featuring on the current university logo.

It was hoped that increasing the number of students progressing to higher education would aid the post-war recovery of the country, and although the University Grants Committee had been established in 1919, it was only in the period after the war that the committee increased the funding it gave to universities to help support capital projects. This, coupled with the Education Act (1944), which aimed to improve access to secondary and further education, made it likely that student numbers would continue to grow over time (in fact; Leeds increased its student numbers threefold between 1952 and 1970 – more than any other English university) so additional campus buildings would be needed to accommodate this swelling student population.

Geoffrey Wilson (b.1921), the university’s in-house architect and planning officer, proposed engaging an “eminent architect” to produce a range of new buildings, including teaching accommodation, a senior common room, a Student’s Union, a medical school, and a sports centre. A committee of university staff was asked to provide a list of possible candidates. Suggestions included Denys Lasdun (1914-2001), James Stirling (1926-1992), and Chamberlin, Powell and Bon. The shortlisted architects were then invited to visit the site and meet with the committee.

Historic England and Twentieth Century Society historian Elain Harwood, who wrote extensively about the University of Leeds campus in her book ‘Chamberlin, Powell & Bon: The Barbican and Beyond’ (2011), explains how Chamberlin made an impression on the committee with his analytical approach and by looking to understand the fundamentals rather “than imposing an architectural solution to a set of instructions.” And so, Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon were employed as master planners for the site in 1959 – but who was this trio of architects?

The three met whilst teaching at the School of Architecture at Kingston School of Art in Kingston upon Thames, but the partnership originates in an architectural competition run by the Corporation of the City of London in 1951. All three had entered designs to provide housing for the site at Golden Lane, which had been left devastated by bombing in the Second World War. They had also agreed that if any of them were successful, that they would work together to realise the winning scheme.

Geoffry Powell’s (1920-1999) design was declared the winner in February 1952, and true to their word, the three men established the firm of Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon. Peter Chamberlin (1919-1978) came later to architecture after initially studying Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Oxford. Chamberlin worked on the ‘Seaside’ exhibit at the 1951 Festival of Britain. Part of the exhibition was retained for several years as a viewing platform on the River Thames. Apart from the Royal Festival Hall, many other exhibits were destroyed after the festival. Christof Bon (1921-1999) was born in Switzerland and studied architecture in Zurich. He worked on the masterplan for the City of London in 1946 before taking a position in Italy, returning to the UK to take on a role at Kingston School of Art.

To begin their work at the University of Leeds, Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon sent questionnaires to all the university staff to analyse their needs. They were aiming to scrutinise how the departments used their respective areas and uncover any that were common between departments. From the information they collected, they hoped to exploit crossovers and maximise the use of space. They thought that flexibility would allow for departments to expand and contract as necessary, so their aim was to design adaptability into the buildings. One way they proposed this could be achieved was with the use of ‘joker’ floors – top-floor student accommodation that could easily be converted into offices or smaller teaching areas as required.

Geoffrey Wilson said of the firm’s plans that they “invested our money in such a way that the University would benefit every time it had to change its accommodation arrangements”. The masterplan was published in 1960 and revised in 1963 to allow for upward forecasts in student numbers, with construction beginning in 1964. Its emphasis lay in a total environment with defined pedestrian routes, open spaces, and neutral buildings to harmonise the space.

Of all the buildings realised from the masterplan, the jewel in the crown of this collection is arguably the Roger Stevens Building. Completed in 1970 and named after the former Vice Chancellor of the university, it housed 25-tiered lecture theatres, teaching space, a café and even a television studio. Putting all the lecture theatres in one place was another of their clever space-saving ideas, and the unusual internal design, with its stepped rows, is expressed on the exterior of the building. Constructed from reinforced concrete, tubular-shaped ventilation ducts loom across the stepped elevation like manmade vines, merging functionality with visual interest. Cut-away sections reveal paths and stairs which connect to nearby buildings.

Outside, a pool that was originally intended to provide cooling for the heating system, offers a tranquil contrast to the looming façade of Leeds’ most favourite brute – known as ‘Big Rog’ to his friends. Elevated walkways on towering pilotis connect departments via colour-coded routes. The most (in)famous of these is the Red Route which was devised as an internal street to connect different parts of the campus. The Roger Stevens Building is still actively used today and is Grade II* Listed – a protection afforded to less than 6% of listed buildings.

The Red Route originates in the EC Stoner Building, which was completed in 1968. Should one need to perch whilst strutting along what was Europe’s longest corridor, one can take a seat on the built-in concrete benches that line the walkway. EC Stoner is one of the largest buildings on campus. Its arrangement of concrete beams and ribbon glazing only adds to the linear feeling, emphasising the structure’s bulk. It was named after Edmund Clifton Stoner, a theoretical physicist and former lecturer at the University of Leeds.

Chamberlin, Powell and Bon’s work for the University of Leeds had concluded by 1976, and their plans were only partially realised but the work that was achieved marries monumentality of scale and function in a harmonious scheme. Chamberlin said, “What I am concerned with is the design of a group of buildings in close proximity to each other as if they were a single problem in design” (RIBA Journal, June 1947) and their Leeds University campus answered the design problem with a group of buildings that are connected both physically and stylistically. And although the Chamberlin, Powell and Bon masterplan was never completed, the buildings that were built, and can still be seen today, give a real sense of coherence and place.

Lisa Brown is a Graphic designer and photographer who documents post-war architecture, public art, signs and occasionally tiled thresholds – but only on a Tuesday. You may also know her as Lisa in Leeds. Lisa’s photobook: Post War Public Art. With kind thanks to The Architectural Review and the Henry Moore Foundation for permission to reproduce images included in this piece.