Roundhay Park Mansion In 1811, John Clarke (died 1857) of York, architect of the Commercial Buildings in Leeds city centre, was commissioned by Thomas Nicholson to design the Mansion House. Formally known as Roundhay Park Mansion, the large mansion was built in
ashlar stone in classical
Georgian style; of two storeys with seven bays, the centre three set behind an iron portico. Thomas's son, Stephen Nicholson
Esq.,
inherited the house and became the
Lord of the Manor of Roundhay. Roundhay township's 1,467 acres were recorded in 1842 as being "mostly the property of Stephen Nicholson".
Elmete Hall Like Roundhay Park Mansion (), Elmete Hall (1865) and Beechwood () are also
Grade II listed and feature in J. Thorp's map. Elmete Hall was first built as Roundhay Lodge for the Nicholson family of Roundhay Park Mansion. In 1865, the lodge was rebuilt by architects Charles Roberts Chorley (1829–1912) and John (or Jeremiah) Dobson in the
Victorian style for
James Kitson (1807–1885). The estate consisted of 65 acres. James Kitson was the father of
James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale and was also a
Mayor of Leeds (1860–62) and friend of
George Stephenson. Kitson's son, John Hawthorn Kitson (1843–1899) inherited Elmete Hall. It was later bought by Bertram J. Redman, who did further improvements to it as well as planning out an up-to-date garden on the west terrace. For over two decades from 1957, Elmete Hall was used as a school and hostel for the deaf and was renovated in 2007. In 2025, the building houses a number of offices.
Beechwood Beechwood was originally known as Goodman House and was built () for Benjamin Goodman (1763–1848) whose son,
Sir George Goodman inherited it. It is a
late Georgian structure. It was described in 2023 as set in an "attractive parkland setting". Lupton House is a large
Victorian wing attached to Beechwood and is named after the
Lupton family. The family of
Olive Middleton (née Lupton), the great-grandmother of
Catherine, Princess of Wales, acquired the estate after George's death and named it Beechwood. The family owned Beechwood from 1860, selling the mansion itself in 1998. However, in 2023, the great-nephews and niece of Olive Middleton's first cousins, spinster sisters
Elinor and Elizabeth Lupton, still owned some of the estate which was originally around 200 acres of farmland. Olive Middleton's unmarried sister,
Anne Lupton lived for at time at Beechwood which later became a college for the
co-operative movement and then offices. Elinor and Elizabeth Lupton remained at Beechwood until their deaths in the late 1970s, before which they had placed a protective covenant on Asket Hill, part of the estate that they wished to be preserved for nature. The sisters ran a
rare breed goat farm at Beechwood and regularly opened their gardens to the public during the 1940s and 50s. Scottish architect
George Corson designed a large wing known today as Corson House at Beechwood. In 1873, Corson won a competition to design a number of substantial villas along Park Avenue – "the jewel in Leed's crown" – and West Avenue on the fringe of Roundhay Park. The villas were built on plots of an acre or more with separate coach houses, stables and servants' quarters at the back so as not to be seen from the park. Woodlands Hall (known originally as Roundhay Mount and later as Carr Head), Parc Mont and several other mansions along Park Avenue are architecturally significant. ==Roundhay Park==