| Summary : A large villa, now flats, built in 1793 for Michael Wainhouse and converted in the late 1970s. Constructed from red brick with an ashlar plinth and a hipped slate roof, it is of two storeys plus cellar in 1:3:1 window bays. The centre three are projected forwards with a pediment over with an elliptical window in a tympanum, now blocked. Belle Vue was built on three and a half acres of land bought by Michael Wainhouse in February 1792. It was one of the plain brick villas built in Leeds in the late 18th century by cloth merchants wishing to escape from the polluted atmosphere of Park Square and other central areas. Wainhouse's workshops and warehouse were at the Park Lane entrance to the long drive which had to curve up the steep slope to the house. |