Leeds Permanent Building Society

The Leeds Permanent Building Society was a building society founded in Leeds, England in 1846 and was commonly known in a shortened form as The Leeds. It should not be confused with the still existing Leeds Building Society (formerly Leeds and Holbeck Building Society)

Originally the Leeds was known as The Leeds Building and Investment Society which was to have been a temporary terminating society which would have been disbanded but demand soon outstripped the society's ability to build and The Leeds was converted to a permanent status.

On 8 November 1848, the new permanent Society, known as the Permanent Second Leeds Benefit Building Society, was officially founded. By the end of its first year, 1,200 members had enrolled, and £14,286 had been advanced on mortgages – nearly £700,000 today.

The Society's first offices were located in Exchange Buildings in Lands Lane, where business was conducted from 10am to 4pm, and also 7pm to 9pm on Tuesdays. They later moved to 32 Park Row, and then in 1876, to premises at the corner of Park Lane and Calverley, where the Society was to remain for the next 50 years.

In 1930, head office moved to newly constructed premises at 18 Park Lane – Permanent House - designed by local architect C.W. Atkinson. Permanent House was the Leeds’ home until the move to new premises in Lovell Park in 1992.

The founders of the Leeds Permanent were 'not men who let the grass grow under their feet'. Within six months, the Society had opened more than eight agencies across neighbouring towns, including Wetherby, Barnsley and Huddersfield. By the time of its tenth birthday in 1858, the Society had 3,500 members and was proudly proclaiming itself to be the largest building society in the world.

The competent management of the Society won it a high reputation at national level, and in 1871, the Society was asked to give evidence to a Royal Commission in London, which was gathering evidence on the operations of friendly societies. The Leeds was specially commended by the Commission as a model society.

By the early years of the 20th century, the Leeds had assets of almost £2 million, and the first telephones and electric lighting had been installed at its head office.

...
Wikipedia