1st White Cloth Hall

Originally named The White Cloth Hall, it was opened in 1711 as a response to the building of a covered cloth hall by the merchants of Wakefield in 1710, built in order to entice traders away from Leeds.{{cite news|last1=Iqbal|first1=Aisha|title=Historic Leeds trading hub all set for a new lease of life|url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/historic-leeds-trading-hub-all-set-for-a-new-lease-of-life-1-6697701|accessdate=12 November 2014|work=Yorkshire Evening Post|publisher=Yorkshire Post Newspapers|date=27 June 2014}} So the cloth hall for the sale of white (undyed) cloth was built on Kirkgate on a site provided by Lord Irvine of Temple Newsam with £1,000 given by merchants and tradesmen. It was 'built upon Pillars and Arches in the form of an Exchange, with a Quadrangular Court within'.{{cite web|title=First Cloth Hall (465922)|url=http://leedscivictrust.org.uk/uploads/leeds/mainsite/downloads/PDFs/Heritage/HAR%20Sheets/First%20White%20Cloth%20Hall%20REV%20A.pdf|website=Leeds Civic Trust|accessdate=23 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325000908/http://leedscivictrust.org.uk/uploads/leeds/mainsite/downloads/PDFs/Heritage/HAR%20Sheets/First%20White%20Cloth%20Hall%20REV%20A.pdf|archive-date=25 March 2016|url-status=dead}}

Despite its importance to the industrial heritage of Leeds and to the Industrial Revolution in general, the first White Cloth Hall in Kirkgate has stood growing increasingly derelict for many years surrounded by scaffolding and safety hoardings. The Amusement Arcade in its eastern wing still operates but the rest of the building is getting close to state of collapse and is a health and safety hazard.

A series of meetings with the City Council Planning Officers, the building owner Emco, and English Heritage, concluded that the western and southern sections of the building must be demolished.

In March 2018, Leeds City Council granted Rushbond Group permission to restore the building. Rushbond Group are local property developers who bought the building over a year earlier.{{Cite news |date=8 March 2018 |title=Leeds' First White Cloth Hall restoration plans approved |work=BBC News Online |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-43334462 |access-date=30 June 2021}} Work started in March 2019.{{cite news |last1=Newton |first1=Grace |title=Builders make fascinating archaeological finds on the site of Leeds' oldest street |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage/builders-make-fascinating-archaeological-finds-on-the-site-of-leeds-oldest-street-1-10031067 |access-date=30 June 2021 |work=The Yorkshire Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209191244/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage/builders-make-fascinating-archaeological-finds-on-the-site-of-leeds-oldest-street-1-10031067 |archive-date=9 December 2019}}

In 2019 Historic England commissioned dendrochronological (tree-ring) analysis on ex situ samples from 19 oak and one conifer timbers from the former west range of First White Cloth Hall. This analysis dated the timber as growing during the years AD 1366–1476, with the trees felled in the summer of AD 1476, with a likelihood that the timbers were part of a specific programme of felling and construction from a single woodland source relatively local to West Yorkshire. This date is earlier than had been expected based on the opening of First White Cloth Hall in the early eighteenth century.{{Cite report |url=https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16378&ru=/Results.aspx?p=1&n=10&rn=52&ry=2019&ns=1 |title=Former West Range, First White Cloth Hall, 100 Kirkgate, Leeds, West Yorkshire: Tree-ring Analysis of ex situ Timbers |last=Arnold |first=Alison |last2=Howard |first2=Robert |date=2019 |publisher=Historic England |issn=2398-3841 |id=52-2019 |last3=Tyers |first3=Cathy |last4=Tyers |first4=Ian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901114912/https://research.historicengland.org.uk/Report.aspx?i=16378&ru=%2FResults.aspx%3Fp%3D1&n=10&rn=52&ry=2019&ns=1 |archive-date=1 September 2020 |access-date=30 July 2021 |url-status=live }}

• 2nd White Cloth Hall
• 3rd White Cloth Hall
• 4th White Cloth Hall

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{{Listed buildings in Leeds}}

Category:Listed buildings in Leeds

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in West Yorkshire

Category:Buildings and structures in Leeds

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1711

Category:1711 establishments in England