York Historic Environment Record

Leetham's flour rolling mills; now flats. 1896, converted c1990. By WG Penty for Sidney Leetham. Orange-brown brick in English garden-wall bond on stone plinth; weather-boarded clerestory with slate roof; moulded stone gable coping and stone string courses; glazed and slated canopy on cast-iron columns. PLAN: Irregular rectangle. EXTERIOR: 5 storeys and set back clerestory attic: 4-bay entrance front with shaped gable to east towards Navigation Road; 20 and one half bays on north side to Foss Navigation; 17-bay south side to Wormald's Cut, linked by canted 3-bay front to 9-storey west tower at confluence of Cut and Navigation. North and south sides articulated by pilaster strips supporting stepped and corbelled frieze and cornice beneath eaves string course and plain brick parapet: canted front on south side is round arcaded beneath stepped parapet. Entrance front has two inserted doors in altered segment-arched openings on ground and first floors, linked on first floor by walkway to adjacent car-park. Other openings are windows and include oculus with glazing bars in gabled attic. Scrolled tie rod ends exposed. North side has cantilevered walkways to ground floor end bays and full width of first floor serving double door entrances. Right of centre bay projects from third floor upwards as gabled lucam, now fenestrated. South side has full-width canopy over ground floor openings. Square west tower has corbelled cornice and eaves string beneath stepped parapet. 6 lower storeys have rounded corners; upper storeys, slightly corbelled out, have canted corners: on south side, embattled turret with vertical slit openings rises through upper 3 storeys. On north side, double doors inserted on first floor open on to walkway. To left, 6- or 8-pane vertical windows light lower storeys. At west end, lower storeys have 3-light windows recessed in tall brick panel: upper storeys have pairs of 2x8-pane casements over sillstring. Throughout, double doors have small-pane glazing and fanlights. Windows are 2- or 3-light small-pane mullioned casements, generally taller on ground floor, with segmental brick arches and stone sills. Windows inserted in former loading bays have shallow balconies with plain balustrades. Gantries and hoists indicating building's original purpose are retained in several places. INTERIOR: not inspected.
Listing NGR: SE6080251716

Derived from English Heritage LB download dated: 22/08/2005

The building is set over 5 storeys with a setback clerestory attic and a square tower rising a further 3
floors. Rowntree Wharf was constructed in 1896 and converted into flats ca 1990. The property has
remained unchanged since the conversion. The building has been in residential use since it was
converted.
Due to the excellent transport links, Henry Leetham took ownership of a flour mill on the North bank of the river and built the present warehouse, 5 storeys high with a 9 storey high tower on the
West end, connected to the main mill buildings on the Hungate bank by a 4 storey bridge over the
river.
The mill was successful, and the business expanded to become one of the largest flour millers in
Europe. The mill closed in 1930, and was bought by the Rowntree Company in 1935. Renamed the
Rowntree ‘Navigation Warehouse’ it served as an import warehouse for cocoa beans. In 1989 it was
converted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation into offices, with flats above.
In more recent years, a glazed canopy has been installed, a metal walkway has been fitted, with an
access bridge installed over the River Foss. The building was Listed Grade ll in 1983, based on an
external inspection.

Heritage Statement Oct 2016

NMR Information:

Unified Designation System UID 1257088

Recorded by NRIM, photographed. (1)
1 National Record of Industrial Monuments Recorded by R Lomas, 13-feb-1967, Record No.YO128

Related event: (UID 1511398) NATIONAL RECORD OF INDUSTRIAL MONUMENTS Desk Based Assessment 1960 - 1975