Leeds International Pool - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Leeds International Pool often referred to as the LIP, was a swimming facility in Leeds city centre

Leeds City Centre

Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, England. It is within the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, represented by Hilary Benn as MP since a by-election in 1999...

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The Pool was situated at the lower end of Westgate and was notable for its brutalist architecture

Brutalist architecture

Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...

. The pool was constructed in the 1960s and designed by architect John Poulson

John Poulson

John Garlick Llewellyn Poulson was a British architect and businessman who caused a major political scandal when his use of bribery was disclosed in 1972. The highest-ranking figure to be forced out was Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling...

.

The facility closed in October 2007 and was jointly replaced by the Aquatics Centre at the John Charles Centre for Sport

John Charles Centre for Sport

The John Charles Centre for Sport is a sports facility in South Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was previously named the South Leeds Stadium and was renamed to honour John Charles , the former Leeds United, Juventus F.C. and Wales footballer...

(former South Leeds Stadium) in the south of the city and partly by 'The Edge' sports centre at the University of Leeds

University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...

which has periods open to non-university members. The building stood unused until late 2009, when demolition commenced. In the interim it was subject to vandalism.

Controversy

The building was controversial from its opening in 1967. Although in the first six months of opening, the facilities were used by over 220,000 people (then, nearly half the population of Leeds), the building spent many of its early days closed for repairs and alterations. The architect John Poulson

John Poulson

was convicted in 1974 of fraud in connection with the awarding of building contracts. Other buildings designed by Poulson include Cannon Street Station

Cannon Street station

Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London, England. It is built on the site of the medieval Steelyard, the trading base in England of the Hanseatic League...

and East Croydon Station

East Croydon station

East Croydon station is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, 10.35 miles south of London Bridge in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the largest and busiest station in Croydon and the busiest in London outside Travelcard Zone 1 in terms of the number of passengers entering and exiting...

in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

Future

After the closure of the building, its demolition at one stage seemed unlikely after plans to build the skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

The Spiracle were cancelled. The building would have been difficult to convert for other uses, and the likelihood of a private company wanting to run the outdated swimming pool was unlikely, especially as Leeds by then had superior facilities at the John Charles Centre for Sport

John Charles Centre for Sport

. However the building itself was popular, particularly with admirers of brutalism and twentieth century architecture such as the 20th Century Society.

Replacement Facilities

The replacement facilities at the John Charles Centre for Sport

John Charles Centre for Sport

offer a larger diving pool with a movable floor for adjusting the depth, an olympic sized pool with three booms for easy division and larger spectator areas. The new facilities adjoin an athletics and rugby league stadium, used by Hunslet Hawks, as well as indoor bowling facilities and tennis courts. The new facilities also offer ample free parking. They are however less accessible for people living in the North of Leeds and other towns within the City of Leeds

City of Leeds

The City of Leeds is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Leeds City Council, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough. The metropolitan district includes Leeds and the towns of Farsley, Garforth, Guiseley, Horsforth, Morley, Otley, Pudsey, Rothwell,...

such as Otley

Otley

-Transport:The main roads through the town are the A660 to the south east, which connects Otley to Bramhope, Adel and Leeds city centre, and the A65 to the west, which goes to Ilkley and Skipton. The A6038 heads to Guiseley, Shipley and Bradford, connecting with the A65...

and Wetherby

Wetherby

Wetherby is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Wharfe, and has been for centuries a crossing place and staging post on the Great North Road, being mid-way between London and Edinburgh...

. The John Charles Centre for Sport, is bordered by Beeston

Beeston, Leeds

Beeston is a suburb Leeds, West Yorkshire, England located about 2 miles south of the city centre. The area is separated from surrounding areas to the north, east and west by the M621 motorway....

, Hunslet

Hunslet

Hunslet is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is south east of the city centre and has an industrial past.Hunslet had many engineering companies based in the district, such as John Fowler & Co...

and Middleton and is accessible from the M1

M1 motorway

The M1 is a north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1 near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the...

, M62

M62 motorway

The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...

and M621

M621 motorway

The M621 motorway is a short loop of motorway in England that takes traffic into central Leeds between the M1 and M62 motorways. It is the second longest motorway in the United Kingdom to carry a three digit number although it carries more junctions than any other three digit motorway within the...

Demolition

Demolition began in the autumn of 2009. The walls to the Western face of the centre have been removed. The walls to the Eastern side of the building were removed next, leaving only the roof standing upon its support columns, and internal structure.

Following demolition the site has not been redeveloped and since 2010 has been operated as a car park by Leeds City Council.

External links

Historical photographs of the pool from leodis.net.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Controversy

Future

Replacement Facilities

Demolition

See also

External links