Royal Lancaster Infirmary (Original Building)

The Royal Lancaster Infirmary, originally built in 1896 and altered and extended in 1929, is a hospital designed by Paley and Austin. It is constructed from sandstone ashlar with slate roofs and is designed in a Free Renaissance style. The building has a reversed L-shaped plan that is symmetrically arranged around an octagonal four-stage entrance tower, which was later extended on the left side.

Above the entrance doorway, there is a square niche framed with strapwork, featuring a Coade stone plaque depicting the Good Samaritan. This plaque was previously located above the entrance of the dispensaries at No.19 Castle Hill and No.6 Thurnham Street. The upper faces of the tower above the doorway are blind, but on the third floor, there is an aedicule that contains the royal coat of arms.

On either side of the entrance, the faces of the tower are canted backwards and feature a rectangular window on both the ground and first floors. All windows have quadrant-moulded architraves with keystones and are sashed with glazing bars. The second floor includes a bull's eye window, while the third floor has a round-headed window; above this is a balustrade that conceals the base of an ogee-shaped dome.

To the right of the tower is the two-bay return wall of the original right-hand block, which has two storeys plus gabled attics and five wide bays arranged with a recessed centre and two cross-wings. These cross-wings have paired windows on the ground and first floors, as well as a stepped three-light window under a Flemish gable. The central bay features a similar gable and paired windows on the first floor, while the ground floor has a canted bay window. To the far right, there is a single-storey wing that contains an entrance with a battlemented lintel and a datestone, all set beneath a Flemish gable that has a bull's eye window.