Heritage House

Heritage House, Sheffield

A former infirmary, now offices, built between 1793 and 1797 to designs by John Rawsthorne. A south-east return wing was added in the same architectural style in 1883–84 by John Dodsley Webster. The building was restored and altered around 1988.

The structure is built in ashlar with ashlar dressings and hipped slate roofs with 5 truncated ridge stacks. It comprises 3 storeys plus basements with a main façade of 13 by 13 windows.

The exterior displays ground and first floor sillbands, a string course, cornice and blocking course throughout. Windows are predominantly 12-pane sashes, with 6-pane sashes on the second floor. A slightly projecting centre section contains 3 windows and is crowned with a pediment containing a clock. The central window features a moulded surround and cornice on brackets. On either side, wings contain 4 windows each.

Projecting hipped end pavilions feature 3-storey bow windows with lead semi-domes. Central windows within the bow windows have moulded surrounds and cornices on brackets. The ground floor displays a central 4-columned Doric portico with a dentilled cornice, covering a glazed door with overlight. This is flanked by niches containing figures. On either side are round-headed recesses with sashes; beyond these are a further 4 similar recesses with sashes on each side. The bow windows contain pedimented central windows flanked by single sashes.

The return wing to the left features a centre projecting in 2 steps with pediment and parapet. Its central first floor window has a pediment on scroll brackets, while the central second floor window is a tripartite sash. All windows in the centre section have moulded surrounds. The flanking wings contain four 12-pane sashes on each floor. A 4-columned Doric portico with cornice and shaped blocking course fronts this section, with ground floor round-headed recesses on either side, each containing a 12-pane sash. The right return has 4 windows on each floor, with ground floor windows set within round-headed recesses.

The rear elevation of the main block mirrors the front design, with a pediment containing a clock. The central first floor window has a bracketed cornice with smaller splayed flanking lights. A 4-columned Doric portico with plain cornice shelters a 20th-century glazed double door with overlight. On either side is a 12-pane sash in a round-headed recess. The wings contain four 12-pane sashes on each floor. The right return features a projecting central block of 5 windows with heavy cornice and coped parapet. On the first and second floors this section contains two 12-pane sashes, then 2 small sashes, followed by another 12-pane sash. A 4-columned Doric portico with cornice and 20th-century glazed doors fronts this, with a single 12-pane sash on each side. The returns have a single small window on each floor, while the wings contain four 12-pane sashes on each floor. The right end has a tripartite sash on each floor: the first floor version is pedimented, the second floor has a gabled surround, and the ground floor example has a cornice with Doric piers in antis. The left return has 2 windows on each floor. The left end features a tripartite sash with pediment on the first floor and a Venetian window on the second floor. The ground floor has a tripartite sash in a round-headed recess.

The interior of the main range contains a vaulted entrance hall with 2 Doric columns leading to an inner hall. A barrel-vaulted corridor running lengthwise features pilastered walls and corniced doorcases. At either end, a round stairwell contains a cantilevered oval winder stone stair with iron stick balusters and ramped scrolled handrail.