Glazed Victorian arcades in marble, mosaic and terracotta, where the BBC filmed part of The ABC Murders at County Arcade.
What Victoria Quarter looks like
and Cross Arcade sit in three storey terracotta blocks between and Vicar Lane. Inside, glass barrel roofs on cast iron arches run the length of each arcade, with marble columns and coloured mosaic panels along the ground floor.
Frank Matcham designed both arcades for the Leeds Estate Company, built between 1898 and 1904 in pink and buff terracotta with a faience frieze of fruit under the gallery rail. Cast iron balustrades line the upper gallery, and globe lamps hang from the ceiling along the full length of each arcade. The decoration follows a free baroque style.
Queen Victoria Street runs between the two arcades under a stained glass canopy 125 metres long, the largest stained glass roof in Britain. The canopy and the shopfronts beneath it date from 1990, newer than the marble arcades on either side.
occupies the site of the former Empire Theatre at one end of the arcade, the department store's first branch outside London. Ted Baker, Vivienne Westwood and Space NK are among the shops under the arcades today, their signage set into the terracotta and iron shopfronts. Mosaic and marble flooring continues out through the arcades to the entrances on Briggate and .
Shot in Victoria Quarter
The BBC filmed part of its 2018 adaptation of The ABC Murders inside County Arcade, one of several Leeds heritage buildings the production used that summer. The three part series, starring John Malkovich as Poirot, is set in 1933.
The ABC Murders, 2018
County Arcade
County Arcade appears among the Leeds locations the production used for the series. The same shoot also used Victoria Gate and several other Leeds heritage buildings nearby.
What Victoria Quarter can double for
Great Western Arcade in Birmingham, England
Great Western Arcade has the same glass roof, cast iron galleries and mosaic floors, built a generation earlier in 1876. The top floor lost its original glazed dome in the Second World War, so a full three level shot needs Victoria Quarter or an image from before 1940. The Birmingham arcade has plainer ironwork and no terracotta shopfronts at street level, which shows in a wide ground floor shot. Try searching cast iron arcade galleries now.
Barton Arcade in Manchester, England
Barton Arcade in Manchester has the same cast iron and glass roof, built in 1871 with ironwork cast at MacFarlane's foundry in Glasgow. Its arcade curves in a U shape rather than running straight, which changes the sightlines down its length. The glass domes are smaller and more numerous than Victoria Quarter's barrel roofs, which shows in any upward angle. Try searching cast iron glass arcade now.
Cleveland Arcade in Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Cleveland Arcade is a five storey glass and iron atrium with marble walls and mosaic floors, completed in 1890 as one of the first indoor shopping arcades in the United States. Its full height glazed roof rises over galleries on both sides rather than Victoria Quarter's lower barrel vaults. Cleveland's arcade is far taller, so any shot showing more than one gallery level gives away the difference in scale. Try searching glass and iron atrium now.
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