Moorside House at Skircoat was designed by H. J. Paull as a home for Louis John Crossley.
Crossley intended to build a collegiate school here, and Paull built the ground floor storey before the scheme was abandoned.
Paull had to use a large quantity of masonry which was intended for the school in the construction of the house.
The Building News of February 1875 reported that
The walls are of brick, faced with pitch-faced wall stones, and all quoins and window and door dressings, &c., are of the boasted stone from the best local quarries. The roofs are covered with Westmoreland slates. All the apartments are warmed by fresh, warm air, conveyed from a heating chamber in the basement by glazed earthenware pipes; and extraction of foul air is effected by gas through ventilators and tubes in the roofs. The columns between the drawing-room and ante-room are of Devonshire marble, supporting arches of pink alabaster, the spandrels of which are of open alabaster work. In the ante-room, an organ has been erected with oak case, designed by the architect. The lodge and entrance gates are at the western end of the grounds, and a range of stabling has been erected on a plot of land a short distance apart. Complete telegraphic communication exists between the house and the lodge and stables, and with the Dean Clough Mills, which are situated on the opposite side of the town. The illustration shows the residence as originally designed. In execution, the lantern lights have been omitted. The height of the ground-floor principal rooms is 14 ft. The whole of the works were carried out in 1870-2 by local contractors and tradesmen, under the supervision of the architect
Michael Holroyd Smith and Crossley built an electric tramway in the gardens. This was unveiled at the Salterhebble & District Rose Show on 1883
Smith installed electric lighting at the house. The power was generated by a small gas engine and a Gramme dynamo.
The billiard-room housed a collection of sections of submarine cables, and an electrical laboratory and a workshop were added later
This & associated entries use material contributed by Alan Longbottom
Page Ref: MMM187
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