Bootham Park Hospital: Two long corridors, recreation hall, former American bowling alley, and two former Pauper Wards

Bootham Park Hospital: Two Long Corridors, Recreation Hall, Former American Bowling Alley, and Two Former Pauper Wards

This Grade II listed complex forms part of Bootham Park Hospital, now an NHS mental health facility. The buildings described date from the 19th century and represent successive phases of development at what was originally a County Lunatic Asylum, constructed from 1773-77.

The complex is arranged around two long, single-storey corridors running north-westerly direction, which link the core asylum buildings to a group of structures at the north-west end. These corridors pass through a late-19th-century two-storey cross wing before reaching two parallel former pauper wards. The wards, which date from 1861-62, replaced earlier pauper accommodation on the same site and originally contained a combination of bedrooms and dormitories. Between the two corridors on the south-eastern side of the cross wing stands a large, full-height recreation hall built in 1871-72. A single-storey former American bowling alley, constructed before 1892, is positioned along the outer side of the southern long corridor.

The buildings are constructed in orange brick with sandstone dressings and slate roofs throughout.

The former American bowling alley is a single-storey structure built against the outer south-west wall of the southern corridor. It is constructed of brick in Flemish bond with scalloped timber bargeboards and fish-scale slate roof tiles. A series of raised roof lanterns punctuates the roof. A canted bay window occupies the centre, flanked by two bays on each side and outer square bay windows with hipped roofs. Large casement windows are separated by brick piers with stone bases and capitals. Two further bays extend beyond the square bay window at the right-hand end.

The two former pauper wards stand at the north-west end of the complex in parallel formation and share similar architectural treatment. Both are built of orange brick in Flemish bond with timber eaves cornices featuring paired modillions, and hipped slate roofs. Each ward is two storeys and six bays, with full-height canted bay windows at both ends of the outer elevations. Windows are six-over-six pane sashes with stone sills and gauged brick lintels. The ground floor outer elevation of both wards is largely concealed by flat-roofed, single-storey modern extensions; the northern ward's extension incorporates a wide canted glazed bay at the left-hand end. Both wards were originally linked to the late-19th-century cross wing via two-storey flat-roofed link bays, and a 1960s single-storey flat-roofed extension links the two wards on their north-west side. A modern single-storey glazed entrance lobby abuts the link bay of the southern ward.

The two long corridors have no visible exterior walls; the upper part of the recreation hall only is visible to the rear of the bowling alley, displaying a hipped slate roof with fully glazed apex.

The interiors of the two long corridors are of high quality, featuring Minton tile floors, panelled doors, architraves, pilasters, and deep moulded cornices. The southern corridor is lit by rectangular roof lanterns. The former American bowling alley has fully panelled walls and panelled doors beneath a coffered ceiling incorporating roof lanterns. The recreation hall is its principal interior space, with an open ceiling featuring collar-beam trusses with deep arched braces springing from decorative corbels. Panelled ceiling faces and full glazing to the ridge apex above collar height light the space. The room displays high-quality woodwork throughout, including a panelled dado with timber arcading above, panelled doors, and detailed architraves.

The first floor of the southern pauper ward has been comprehensively refurbished in recent years.

Modern kitchen equipment fitted at the north-west end of the former American bowling alley and the concertina screen separating it from the rest of the room are declared not to be of special architectural or historic interest. The modern fixtures and fittings within both former pauper wards are similarly excluded.