Macclesfield District General Hospital (Original Blocks Only)

The building, now part of Macclesfield District General Hospital, was originally a workhouse constructed between 1843 and 1845. It was designed by Scott and Moffatt and later altered in the 20th century. It is of group value. The workhouse is built of coursed and squared rubble with scallop tiled roofs. The design is symmetrical, featuring a long north-south range with projecting wings. The building is three storeys high. A central, double-gabled entrance and office block originally divided the female and male areas of the building. The central entrance has a two-storey gabled porch with pinnacles to the coped gable. Windows above the entrance are two-light mullioned with shaped lights and drop-ended hoodmoulds. A lantern carrying a clock sits over the centre, with a leaded base and a weather vane. The long ranges to either side have various small two-light mullioned windows and some inserted openings. Axial stacks are present with a single attic dormer window between them. Formerly, the southern range contained male day rooms, while the northern range contained female day rooms. Projecting cross wings, which continue the main range, formerly housed male and female schoolrooms. These are two-and-a-half storeys high with coped gables to the front. Projecting gables over secondary doors are visible on the north and south elevations, along with dormer windows to the attic storey. Some alterations were made to the fenestration, but many original mullioned windows remain. Four-centred arched doorways (now blocked on the front elevation) are present in the angles with the main range, and are linked across the rear elevation to a central rear wing by lean-to glazed verandahs. In 1874, the front wings housed infirm female and male day rooms and bedrooms to the north and south, with a nursery to the north and a tailor’s shop to the south. These rear wings each extended to a four-window range, which subsequently continued with single-storeyed blocks. A central rear wing contained a kitchen in a semi-basement, with a dining hall and chapel above. A detached block around a courtyard to the west of the main building was also part of the original plan; in 1874 it housed hospital accommodation and services such as a laundry and boiler house. The west elevation contains a three-storey original entrance (now altered) between two shallow outer wings. Many original chamfered stone window openings survive, despite some later refenestration. The building was extended in the early 20th century, and these later additions are not included in this listing.