1781-1808
Above the Rotation Office
The rapid growth of both the collection and the number of subscribers necessitated removal in 1781. The library’s second home was again rented – this time from the hatter, property speculator and library subscriber, Joseph Wood – and was again at first floor level. It was in Kirkgate in the house formerly belonging to Sir James Ibbetson.
This image shows the former home of Sir James Ibbetson as it was illustrated in the margin of John Cossin’s plan of Leeds of about 1725. The Leeds Library rented the first floor from Joseph Wood from 1781 until 1808. The later arrival of the town magistrates on the ground floor led to the building being known as ‘the Rotation Office’.
This house later came to be known as ‘The Rotation Office’ when the library was joined at ground floor level by the town’s magistrates. The library’s second librarian, Mary Robinson, was again a bookseller - she was Joseph Ogle’s daughter – and she and her husband, John, removed with the library and ran a bookseller’s shop at ground floor level.
In the 1790s, pressure on space again caused the library to look for new accommodation but without apparent enthusiasm. It was not until 1806 that a suitable plot for purpose-built premises was finally secured in the newly developing Commercial Street. Thomas Johnson, a local architect and one of the street’s developers, was appointed architect and construction probably began in 1806. The library’s own first floor ‘Main Room’ was ready by November 1807 when it was let for three months to William Bullock’s travelling Liverpool Museum.
This is an image of Rotation Office Yard in about 1870. The Leeds Library’s second home – above the magistrates’ ‘rotation office’ - was in the building in the far left-hand corner by then occupied by Tiffany’s brush manufacturers. The yard was swept away for the creation of New Market Street.
Copyright Leeds Library and Information Service
