Robert Dennis Chantrell won the competition to build the new Hall for the Society in May 1819 in Classical style.[5] The Hall was sited on the corner of Park Row and Bond Street in the Georgian west end of Leeds.[6] The foundation stone was laid by Benjamin Gott on 9 July 1819 and the Hall was opened on 6 April 1821.[7] The Hall had a lecture theatre, library, laboratory and museum.[6][8] Charles Turner Thackrah gave the opening address, pointing out that the Hall would provide a place for "the conversational diffusion of knowledge".[6] Before the creation of any college or university in Leeds, the Society provided an important opportunity for civic education.[6]
Later history
The Hall was refaced and extended in 1861-62 by Dobson & Chorley.[7][9] A new entrance was built on Park Row.[8] In 1876, the inaugural meeting of the Leeds Architectural Association was held in the Hall.[9]
The Hall was badly damaged in an air raid in 1941 when many museum exhibits were lost, but the building was given a new concrete façade and remained as a museum until 1965.[7][8] The Hall was demolished in 1966.[8]William Gott was a benefactor to the museum, and one of the Society's vice presidents in later life.[10]
In 1925, the Society began publishing two journals: Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Scientific section (which ran from 1925 to 1998, producing twelve volumes)[11] and Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Literary and Historical Section (which ran from 1925 to 1999, producing twenty-five volumes).[12]
The Society celebrated its bicentenary in 2019 and launched a new website in 2021.
List of presidents
The following have been presidents of the society:[4]
^ ab"History". The Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
^Webster, Christopher (2011). Building a Great Victorian City: Leeds Architects and Architecture 1790-1914. Northern Heritage Publications. pp. 101–102.
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