thumb|right|300px|City Square and Park Row
City Square is a paved area north of Leeds railway station at the junction of Park Row to the east and Wellington Street to the south. It is a triangular area where six roads meet: Infirmary Street and Park Row to the north, Boar Lane and Bishopsgate Street to the south-east, and Quebec Street and Wellington Street to the south-west. The only building with a direct frontage is the former General Post Office, on the north-west side.
History
thumb|right|250px|The original laying out of City Square in 1897. Behind is the original Queen's Hotel.
Proposals were made in 1893 to transform the area in front of the station. The demolition of Leeds' Coloured Cloth Hall and Quebec House gave an open space in which a new General Post Office was constructed in 1896 with a public space in front. One proposal was to name the development after John Smeaton, the famous local engineer, but the council unanimously opted to call it City Square, as Leeds was being made a city that year. The initial plan had tramway waiting rooms, and public lavatories welcoming new visitors to Leeds. However, Colonel Thomas Walter Harding (Lord Mayor of Leeds between 1898 and 1899) was so dismayed that he commissioned William Bakewell to design a square more in the style of an Italian piazza, with statues and trees.
In the Second World War, during an air raid on Leeds, the Luftwaffe bombed City Square. It was at the time the site of a public air raid shelter, which did not withstand the bombing and was significantly damaged.
In 1964, the view of the square changed dramatically when the Victorian-style Norwich Union building and the Royal Exchange building with its clock-tower were torn down to make way for new modern blocks.
In 1995, the 1967 modernist Norwich Union House was demolished to make room for the current No. 1 City Square inaugurated in 1998.
In 1997, traffic that went through the City Square, mainly buses and taxis, was diverted to the Leeds City Centre "Loop" traffic scheme. The City Square area was refurbished in 2003, which included closing off one side of the square to traffic, rearranging the statues and adding fountains and traditional street furniture to the square.
Statuary
All are in bronze and larger than life. There is a large equestrian statue, four statues of famous men, and a ring of female nudes, or nymphs, acting as lampholders. The statues were part of a celebration of Leeds changing status from a town to a city. All are at least Grade II listed buildings.
Black Prince
thumb|right|The Black Prince
The large equestrian statue is of Edward, the Black Prince (1330–1376), and is a major work of Thomas Brock (1847–1922). Edward had no specific connection with Leeds, and the choice of subject therefore caused something of a stir. The statue is on a pedestal with relief panels depicting some of the prince's notable victories. It (along with most of the statues) was funded by Colonel Thomas Walter Harding. Brock took seven years to make it, and it had to be cast in Belgium because it was too big for any British foundry. It was carried by sea to Hull, then on a barge along the River Aire to Leeds. It was unveiled on 16 September 1903 to cheering crowds. It is Grade II* listed. They are by Alfred Drury, now celebrated as a pioneer of the New Sculpture. The telephone booths outside the former post office are K6 design and also Grade II listed buildings.
It opened 18 May 1896. Two figures by William Silver Frith representing "Reading" and "Writing" are over one entrance, while "Reading" and "Philosophy" are over the other. Four figures above have been said to represent Time, Air, Light and Earth. Along with other smaller decorations are two owls on the front.
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File:Leeds General Post Office clock tower 2 July 2018 cropped.jpg|Clock tower
File:Reading and Writing LGPO 2 July 2018.jpg|Reading and Writing and an owl
File:Reading and Philosophy LGPO 2 July 2018.jpg|Reading and Philosophy and an owl
File:Four figures LGPO 2 July 2018.jpg|Upper storeys, including figures for Time, Air, Light, and Earth
File:Owl on Old GPO Leeds City Square 10 October 2018.jpg|Sculpture of owl on a ledge
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Surrounding buildings
The square is overlooked by the listed buildings Queens Hotel on the South and Mill Hill Chapel on the East, plus a modern skyscraper, No. 1 City Square (Norwich Union Building) completed 1998 by Abbey Hanson Rowe on the North. On the Southwest between Quebec Street and Wellington Street is the former Majestic Cinema and Ballroom (1921), a Grade II listed building in terracotta by the Leeds Fireclay Co. On the Southeast corner is the Park Plaza Hotel, a 2003 recladding of a 1965 office tower block called Exchange House, and the former Yorkshire Bank (1899, Grade II listed), now a bar, in granite with a distinctive copper dome.