THE PLAN

Site

Ideally the Leeds Lighthouse will be built on a site next to the River Aire opposite the City Centre and within easy reach of the Royal Armouries.

A footbridge across the river would give visitors easy access to the Leeds Lighthouse and Royal Armouries and back to the City Centre.


Construction

The building is not seen as a reconstruction of John Smeaton's original Eddystone Lighthouse but as a homage to it (see artist's impression below).

The Eddystone Rock at the base will give room for services for the Leeds Lighthouse, including power and air-conditioning and a base for the internal lift system. Public toilets would also be sited within the rock.

The original Eddystone Lighthouse was a red and white banded lighthouse and this theme will be retained, with a metal framework with walls of red and white glass of varying colour density for each level, ensuring good internal light and a spectacular effect after dark when the Leeds Lighthouse would be lit from within.

From the ground-level edge of the rock a shallow ramp will lead to the entrance. The central column inside the lighthouse will be a glass-sided lift, thus ensuring full access for the disabled. Around this central column there will be a spiral staircase leading to the upper levels (gallery space and café).

The lantern level will be cantilevered out to provide extra space. The building will be topped by a red cupola with a red Leeds owl finial.



=== Within the Leeds Lighthouse

Levels 1 and 2

The ground level and first floor will have two main functions.

- Tourist Information Office
Firstly as a Tourist Information Office which would serve Leeds and Yorkshire, as the current Gateway to Yorkshire does. Very few residents of Leeds are aware of position of the current tourist information office. It is part of Leeds City Station but sited at a point where anyone leaving the station by taxi would miss it. Even many of those leaving on foot for the City Centre do not notice it. Siting the Tourist Information Office in such a prominent landmark as the Leeds Lighthouse would greatly increase its profile and lead to much wider use of it.

- Local Pride
Secondly as a place to promote people's awareness of the people who have come from Leeds or historic events which have happened here. Leeds and the area around it do not celebrate those of its sons and daughters, born here or whose career took off here, who have made their mark on the world, for instance, as well as John Smeaton:

Joseph Priestley who discovered the existence of oxygen (b. Birstall, near Leeds)
John Harrison, the longitude man (b. Foulby, near Wakefield)
Montague Burton, pioneer of ready-made clothing in the early 1900s.
Michael Marks & Thomas Spencer, first opened business in Kirkgate Market.
Alan Bennett, playwright (b. Leeds)
Henry Moore, sculptor (b. Castleford)
Barbara Hepworth, sculptor (b. Wakefield)
Damien Hirst, artist (b. Bristol, but raised and educated in Leeds)
Jane Tomlinson, fundraiser and inspiration to cancer patients (lives in Rothwell)
Jeremy Paxman, broadcaster (b. Leeds)
Marco Pierre White, chef (b. Leeds)
Barbara Taylor Bradford, author (b. Leeds)
John Atkinson Grimshaw, artist (b. Leeds)
Arthur Ransome, author (b. Leeds)
Fanny Waterman, Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (b. Leeds)

These first levels would include a permanent exhibition about John Smeaton and a rotating exhibition on other local celebrities.


Levels 3 and 4

These levels would offer much-needed gallery and display space for local artists in all kinds of media, including painting, sculpture, photography and multimedia, and at all levels of their careers from students to amateurs to the fully professional.

This could be used simply for display with contacts or as sales space, with payment being taken at Level 1.


Level 5 and The Lantern

These two levels will operate as a café, with the main serving area on Level 5 and The Lantern as the main eating area.

The glass walls of the lantern would ideally be partly frosted to approximately chair-seat height and clear above, offering visitors a place to take in the information obtained from the Tourist Information section and a wonderful viewpoint across the city.

Their journey from Levels 1 and 2 to the Lantern Café will take visitors through the gallery space.


The Cupola

The shape of this will give the Lantern Café an excellent and high roof space. The finial will be in the shape of the Leeds owl and after dark a pulsing light will go around the lower edge where the cupola joins the café windows.