Neville Street and Dark Neville Street, fondly known as ‘Dark Arches’ form the main gateway into the city centre from the motorway and the south.
Neville Street & Dark Arches: Past
In 1864 most of the smaller railway companies had merged into larger companies and, in response to this, it was decided to build a station adjacent to the south side of Wellington Street. In 1866 construction commenced and the station was built upon arches which bridged the Leeds-Liverpool canal and a weir from the River Aire.
The building of the station led to the creation of the ‘Dark Arches’ on Dark Neville Street formed by effectively putting a roof across all of the existing arches. Over 18 million bricks were used during their construction, breaking records at the time. Although the arches appear to be part of one masonry structure, closer inspection reveals that it is a series of independent viaducts two or four tracks wide.
Neville Street as it stands today has the original tracks running across forming the dark tunnel that is the gateway to the city centre and start of the Leeds loop road. With the recent expansion of the railway station some of the platforms also stand on this bridge.
Neville Street & Dark Arches: Present
In the early 1990s the pedestrian walkway underneath the bridge on Neville Street was upgraded and included a mural on both walls. Over the years this degraded significantly and the old lighting systems were poorly maintained.As the city developed and became a key financial and legal centre, vehicular traffic increased creating problems with the levels of noise pollution caused by the sounds of traffic echoing throughout the arches and the rumble of the trains overhead. As the the south of the city started to expand pedestrian traffic moving south of the river increased, more than 13,000 people us the Neville Street tunnel every day.
In 2010 the ‘Light’ Neville Street project was completed creating a unique an inviting gateway entrance to the city, incorporating light and sound art installations along both sides of the tunnel. A design team led by Bauman Lyons Architects including world-renowned sound and light artist Hans Peter Kuhn, Leeds-base designer Andy Edwards and acoustic experts Arup, redesigned the tunnel to create a safer walking route widening footpaths and installing stronger over head lighting.
The £4.6million scheme, jointly funded by Leeds City Council (£2million), Yorkshire Forward (£1.95million) and the Northern Way Arts Programme (£646,000) uses high-end sound-proofing technology used in the London Underground and Channel Tunnel to reduce noise pollution. The scheme features two original artworks using thousands of LED lights to help light the tunnel and create a striking entrance to the city centre from the south and the motorway network.
Neville Street & Dark Arches: Future
As part of the ongoing developments at Granary Wharf new life is being breathed into the Dark Arches fronting on to the Waterfront and graving docks. New residents The Hop are joining City Inn and Teppanyaki revitalising the arches and bringing retail back to a once vibrant area of the city.
The arches that lead from Granary Wharf to the Neville Street tunnel are owned and managed by Network Rail. A scheme to change the use of these arches from car parking to retail and animate the tunnel leading from Neville Street to Granary Wharf is currently under discussion.
