Our House: Lindley home that steps back in time

Jan 5 2010 by Emma Davison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

In the upstairs rooms the exposed timber beams give a particularly Jacobean flavour, while furniture throughout the house including some fine sideboards is also by Wood.

The house was extended between 1904-06, representing the needs of the growing household and the family’s desire to keep up with the times.

Following an accident at Acre Mill, Herbert Sykes died in 1916. Annie continued to live there with their children before putting the house up for sale in 1921.

The property then became the home of architect Joseph Berry and was sold to Huddersfield Borough Council in 1946.

The house was then used as a residential children’s home, a home for adults and finally a day centre for adults with learning difficulties which it remains today.

Yet despite its change of use, the house looks almost the same as when the young couple first stepped through its doors.

Brian says: “It was a private house until 1946 and has had several uses since, but unlike some other private houses designed by the architect where a lot of the features have gone or been changed, this has been remarkably well looked after and looks largely the same as when it was first built.

“Obviously a few changes have taken place to make it suitable as a public building, but it has all been done very sensitively and maintained that feeling of it being a family home with most of the original furniture still in the rooms.

“When we were able to take the public on a tour of the house for the first time earlier this year, some members of the group had lived there when it was a children’s home.

“They would queue up for sweets that the matrons kept in the bureau in the morning room and I get the sense they enjoyed living there because the rooms were so attractive and they had the run of the grounds, which were once even more extensive.

“I think the children had a very different experience than perhaps they would have done in other places because this felt very much like a home.”

According to Brian it is remarkable how well the house has been preserved, with all the ornate features and furniture intact and rooms largely laid out in the same way.

He says one of the most impressive rooms is the morning room, located at the south east corner of the house which has light flooding through it.

“It has some lovely panelling and a fantastic painted frieze showing a harvest scene and the briar rose.

“Much of the original furniture is in this room, for example the writing desk which still has the letter racks.”

“The house is a great legacy of Wood and many of the skills he utilised here would be a big influence on his later famous Huddersfield builds.”

Other well-known designs include Lydgate Unitarian Chapel in New Mill, one of the first flat-roofed buildings in Britain, and the richly detailed and romantic Banney Royd.

The Art Nouveau Lindley Clock Tower has stood at the corner of Lidget Street and Daisy Lea Lane since 1902.

Wood left a deep mark on the appearance of the town, both through his own work and influence on others.

Says Brian: “So much of the interior has survived and as an early property by Wood it’s an extremely important part of our local heritage.

“He would have established a lot of his skills here and it would have been his showcase to enable him to design future buildings in the town and make his unique contribution to the local landmark.

“It’s a tremendous house – a wonderful story and great piece of local history.”