Administration block to St Catherine's Hospital

Administration block to St Catherine's Hospital

This house, built in 1839 by architect John Clark of Leeds for George Books, former Mayor of Leeds, is now part of a hospital. It is designed in the Gothick style.

The building is square on plan with a narrow inner courtyard. The exterior is constructed of ashlar, except for the inner courtyard and rear elevations which are built of gault brick with stone dressings. Graduated slate roofs cover the entire structure throughout.

The main facade comprises two storeys arranged in seven bays, with a deep plinth. The end corners and corners to a slightly projecting central bay are articulated with large octagonal buttresses that rise to form small turrets with blind traceried panelled sides and embattled tops.

The central bay features a large porte-cochere with moulded four-centred arches on the east side, beneath return hoodmoulds, with stepped buttresses to the corners. These are triangular in section over the first step and rise over the parapets to form gabletted pinnacles with crocketed gabletted finials. The porte-cochere has an eaves stringcourse with embattled parapets and a ribbed plaster vault on foliage corbels within. Below, three tall four-centred arched chamfered openings are set, with the central one containing a 20th-century door and traceried overlight, whilst the flanking openings contain original two-light casement windows with cusped traceried heads. Three similar windows are positioned to either side, in similar surrounds with recessed spandrels and returned square-headed hoodmoulds.

A first-floor stringcourse runs across, with three flat-headed chamfered windows below returned hoodmoulds with 20th-century casements to either side of the central bay. The central bay itself has a canted bay with 20th-century casements in chamfered surrounds below a cornice with a frieze of blind quatrefoils. Adjoining windows to either side are similar to those beyond. Above this, the central bay is topped by a gable with a carved coat of arms and central pendent. An eaves stringcourse and plain coped parapets run throughout. Ridge stacks flank the central bay, fitted with reduced octagonal flues.

The garden facade to the right return is a five-bay elevation with projecting gabled end bays, a projecting square bay to the centre, and narrow flanking bays. The left bay has octagonal buttresses similar to the main front; at ground floor level, a canted bay window contains two-light four-centred arched windows comparable to those on the main facade, below a frieze of blind traceried panels, stringcourse, and embattled parapets. The central bay has a wide four-centred arched opening below a returned hoodmould with a 20th-century glazed screen within, and the side of the bay features blind cusped lancets. To either side, full-height four-centred arched windows are set, the right one being blind. The right bay has a projecting bay to ground floor containing a blind three-light chamfered mullioned and transomed four-centred arched window below a returned hoodmould, stringcourse, and blocking course.

A continuous first-floor stringcourse runs across. Above this are blind three-light mullion and transomed windows: to the right with a returned hoodmould, to the left with mullions missing and 20th-century glazing, and a five-light similar central window flanked by single-light similar windows. The left gable bears a blank shield, whilst the right gable has a blind two-light window. Eaves stringcourse and plain coped parapets run throughout. Other elevations follow the same style. A tower to the rear has three-light openings to the second and third stages, with those to the top stage having four-centred arched lights. An attached screen wall to the left of the main facade has an arcade of blind four-centred arches with returned hoodmoulds and stepped buttresses between. Gabled bays are positioned at the centre and left, with blocked mullioned windows.

The rear wing rises to three storeys with a taller three-storey tower. Stables and service wings are attached to the rear of the screen wall but are not included in the listing.

The house contains a fine contemporary interior. The entrance hall is finished with a ribbed vaulted ceiling on foliage corbels. Four-centred arched doorcases are set with side niches containing elaborate ogee crocketed canopies and pinnacle buttresses to the sides. The staircase features a pierced timber Gothick traceried balustrate with a wreathed and ramped handrail below a plaster ceiling. All front rooms are fitted with elaborate Gothick plaster cornices and four-centred arched fireplaces with original embattled grates and cusped blind tracery to shutters and doors. A corridor behind the main hall is finished with a ribbed vaulted ceiling.