Columbia Mills

Attached gable-fronted five-bay three-storey former mill, built c.1890, now in use as offices. Pitched corrugated steel roof with roof lights, hidden behind parapet having central pediment and painted masonry coping. Lined-and-ruled rendered walls over smooth rendered walls and painted masonry plinth course to ground floor. Segmental-headed window openings with render surrounds, painted masonry sills and replacement uPVC windows. Segmental-headed door opening, concrete step and replacement glazed door, recent steel roller shutters to ground floor openings. Situated to south side and west end of Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.

In 1880 a building on this site housed Thomas Crosby’s sail cloth and canvas manufacturers. In 1894 it was occupied by H.M.Leask & Company. Its valuation climbed from £44 to £90, suggesting that it was rebuilt in the intervening years. It is referred to in James Joyce's Ulysses, "By lorries along Sir John Rogerson's quay Mr Bloom walked soberly, past Windmill lane, Leask's the linseed crusher, the postal telegraph office. Could have given that address too. And past the sailors’ home. He turned from the morning noises of the quayside and walked through Lime Street." The style and form is functional and unadorned, attesting to its industrial function. It lends historic character to this part of the quay, which is now dominated by buildings of more recent date. Sir John Rogerson’s Quay was laid out in the early eighteenth century and was named after the former Lord Mayor and city councillor who had owned land in the area from 1713. Following the development of the Grand Canal Docks, the area was characterised by mixed domestic, commercial and industrial buildings and warehousing.