St James Hospital Chapel

St James Hospital Chapel is a chapel built between 1858 and 1861 by the architects Perkin and Backhouse of Leeds. It features red brick with stone dressings and decorative blue and white brickwork, topped with a slate roof that has diminishing courses. The building has a cruciform plan with an apsidal east end, pedimented gables, and a cornice.

On the southeast entrance front, there are steps leading up to paired round-headed doors set in a moulded stone arch, flanked by attached columns. Above the doors is a blind arcade and a rose window, all within an elaborate round-arched recess. There are also flanking 2-light windows and a moulded cornice leading to the pediment. A tower is located at the south angle, featuring a 3-light belfry, a clock face above, and a slated spire. Additionally, there is a circular stair turret at the east angle, which includes a round-arched doorway, a round window, an arcaded campanile, and a conical roof.

Inside, the chapel showcases much polychrome brickwork in black, red, and white. It has a 6-bay nave supported by carved stone corbels that hold open trusses with trefoil piercings. The wide chancel arch and paired arches to the transepts are adorned with carved capitals depicting flowers, birds, and animals. The chapel also features a carved stone font with a square base, attached columns, and a carved octagonal bowl. The pulpit is made of red and white marble shafts and has Gothic arcading with pierced panels, supported by an angel holding a book rest.

On the north wall, there is a plaque erected by the Leeds Board of Guardians to commemorate the nurses of Leeds Township Infirmary who died during the First World War or during the influenza epidemic of 1917-1918. The Leeds New Workhouse, located just to the northeast, was built in 1858, suggesting that the chapel was likely constructed around the same time. By 1874, the premises were known as Leeds Township Infirmary.