| Description | Wells House is the earliest surviving hydropathic establishment in Ilkley, and was opened in 1856. It was designed by the architect Cuthbert Brodrick (at the same time he was working upon Leeds Town Hall, and there are some similarities between the two buildings) and is located within a landscaped garden, laid out by Joshua Major, and was provided with a terrace on the north and east sides. Wells House is a 3 storey building with attic and basement, to the east is an extended basement area of several different phases (originally 1875) where the water treatment facilities were concentrated along with a laundry, with a skating rink over. The skating rink was superceded in 1884, when the Winter Gardens were built in its place on the roof of the 1875 addition. A further addition was made to the east terrace in 1888 89, when a billiard room and smoke room were constructed. The Winter gardens are linked by a bridge to the Annexe (built 1894 95), a large 3 storey building standing on its own to the east of the other structures.
A declining interest in hydropathy forced Wells House to place greater emphasis on other faclities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After a short occupation by the Wool Control Secretariat during the Second World War, the buildings became vacant and were in a state of dereliction when they were taken over to form Ilkley College in the early 1950s; the buildings continued in college use until 1999.
In 2000 Crest Homes were granted permission for the conversion of Wells House to residential use as well as the partial demolition/conversion of the adjacent former basement baths area, Winter Gardens and Annexe buildings. West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service (WYAAS) recommended a programme of Historic Building Recording and adjacent properties prior to the aforementioned work commencing; this was undertaken by On Site Archaeology in the Spring of 2000, and copies of the reports are on file at West Yorkshire HER.
(Text edited from On Site Archaeology, 2000)
An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Ed Dennison Archaeological Services (EDAS) in December 2000 and January 2001 during the demolition of part of the structure of Wells House. The watching brief was able to confirm that the rooms within the enclosed courtyard of Wells House were contemporary with the construction of the rest of eth building and that, when first built, they formed a central top lit billiards room surrounded by small offices. The timber structures of the hipped roof and eth coved/arched ceilings over the courtyard rooms were also revealed and recorded by the watching brief (EDAS, 2001). |