Tower Works is a former factory notable for its three listed towers. It is located on Globe Road in

Holbeck Holbeck is an inner city area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It begins on the southern edge of Leeds city centre and mainly lies in the LS11 postcode district. The M1 and M621 motorways used to end/begin in Holbeck. Now the M621 is t ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, next to the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

. The

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

towers of the factory are a distinctive landmark on the

skyline. The factory was founded by T. R. Harding to make steel pins for

carding In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passi ...

and combing in the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

, and the original buildings, by Thomas Shaw, were erected in 1864–66. Harding's son, Colonel Thomas Walter Harding, employed William Bakewell to extend the works in 1899. The design of the extension was heavily influenced by Harding's love of Italian architecture and art. The most notable features of Tower Works are the three towers that give it its name and served for dust extraction from the factory. The largest and most ornate tower (1899, by Bakewell) is based on Giotto's Campanile in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. The smaller ornate tower (1866, by Shaw) known as Verona tower or Boiler House Chimney is styled after the Torre dei Lamberti in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

. A third plain tower, built as part of Harding's final phase of expansion in 1919, is thought to represent a Tuscan tower house such as can be seen in

San Gimignano San Gimignano (; named after St. Geminianus) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Five Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the pr ...

. All three towers are listed structures, the two ornate towers being Grade II* and the plain tower Grade II. The design for the Giotto Tower included

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Respirator, a ma ...

systems that were way ahead of their time in terms of minimising

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

from the steel works. The chimney incorporated a filter to remove the excess steel dust. In 1895 T. W. Harding & Son amalgamated with two other companies to become Harding, Rhodes & Co. The factory sustained damage in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when neighbouring buildings were bombed during the air raids on the nearby

Leeds railway station Leeds railway station (also known as Leeds City railway station) is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Ro ...

. It closed in 1981 after 117 years of operating on the site.

Present

Tower Works lies at the heart of the Holbeck Urban Village renovation area, it was acquired by Yorkshire Forward in 2005. A masterplan for the site was drawn up by Yorkshire Forward, ISIS Waterside Regeneration and Bauman Lyons Architects for an exemplar sustainable mixed use development. The development agreement between Yorkshire Forward and ISIS fell through and Yorkshire Forward developed the first phase. With the winding up of the regional development agencies, ownership passed to the Homes and Communities Agency who oversaw the completion of the entrance range to provide accommodation for digital and creative companies. In 2014 a new developer was sought to develop the rest of the site.

References

{{reflist Towers completed in 1866 Buildings and structures in Leeds Listed buildings in Leeds Grade II listed buildings in Leeds Grade II* listed buildings in West Yorkshire Bell towers in the United Kingdom 1866 establishments in England