LEEDS REBORN

A visitor to Leeds who hasn’t been there for the past twenty years will be pleasantly surprised to find that the dark, old Victorian city has disappeared and in its place a generally bright, charming urban center has taken its place. People who haven’t seen Leeds transformed are often discouraged from going there even by the English themselves, who seem to drive around it because it’s still thought of as a grimy industrial city.

The arcades in the center of Leeds are visually perhaps the most satisfying malls anywhere in England, perhaps in the world. These shopping cathedrals are even laid out like churches with vaulting ceilings and often with stained glass. We were fortunate to have Gerald and Jose (Josie) Smith to guide us even to a flatiron building that is at least twenty years older than the one in New York.