Preston District Health Authority Headquarters

Preston Union Workhouse, subsequently known as the Civic Hostel and later used as an old people's home and offices. Built 1865-1868, designed by Leigh Hall of Bolton. The building is constructed of red brick with plinth and dressings of Longridge sandstone, and has a slate roof with ridge chimneys.

The structure follows a T-plan, with a main range approximately 150 metres long on an east-west axis and a 14-bay rear wing projecting from the centre. The main range rises 3 storeys with cellars and is symmetrically composed in Italianate style. It comprises a 3-bay entrance block crowned with a clock tower, flanked by 14-bay ranges on each side, which terminate in 7-bay wing pavilions. The centre and wings break forward slightly, are marked by rusticated quoins, moulded stone consoles supporting prominent cornices and low parapets, with mansard roofs on the outer bays.

The entrance block is dominated by a tall square clock tower with arched 2-light openings and clock faces above the cornice, topped by a 4-sided domed roof with decorative railings and weathervane. At ground floor sits a recessed central doorway flanked by polished granite columns, set within a massive sandstone architrave with banded rustication and a deep entablature arched in the centre over a semi-circular tympanum bearing a wreath and ribbon lettered "PP" and "PRESTON CIVIC HOSTEL". The block carries two tripartite windows at ground floor and three above on each storey, all with stone architraves; the window over the door has a segmental pediment. The outer bays of the wings are treated in matching style.

Elsewhere, the ground floor is treated as an arcade with all openings in round-headed recesses featuring keystones and linking impost bands. A door is positioned in the centre of each side range and wing. Windows throughout are round-headed sashes with radiating glazing bars in the heads. Upper floors have stone sillbands with sashed windows with glazing bars and gauged brick heads with keystones; those at the centre of the wings have stone architraves. The return walls of the wings feature round-headed windows, mostly blind, with imposts and keystones, and attached iron fire escapes. The rear elevation is much plainer, with windows having gauged segmental heads.

The rear wing is lower in height, with the first 7 bays rising 2 storeys; the remaining 7 bays comprise a full-height dining hall doubling as a chapel.

The building's construction was delayed 30 years following the formation of the Union due to local political opposition. Both the foundation stone and opening ceremony were performed by Thomas Batty Addison, the leading Preston proponent of the New Poor Law from its inception. The architect's principal objective was "to make the classification of the inmates as perfect as possible", with females housed to the west, males to the east, and children of each sex in corresponding wings. Rear exercise yards, plunge baths, and wash-houses for females were subsequently demolished. The estimated construction cost of £30,000 was significantly exceeded at over £50,000, which provoked criticism from local ratepayers regarding the architectural extravagance.