St James Hospital Northside Building

St James Hospital Northside Building is a workhouse that later became a hospital and medical museum, dated 1858 and designed by Perkin and Backhouse of Leeds. It was converted into the Thackray Medical Museum in 1995. The building is constructed of red brick with white brick banding and stone dressings, topped with a slate roof. It stands three storeys high and features 15 unequal bays, with the central and flanking bays projecting. The center has two three-storey canted bays and a large round-arched window above an entrance. There are doorways with semicircular overlights at bays 2, 6, 8 (center), 10, and 14, although some are blocked. The façade includes rusticated pilasters and an ornate pierced stone parapet that rises to widely spaced Dutch gables with finials. A modillion cornice runs along the top, and there is a large square central tower with the date 'A.D./ MDCCCLVIII' inscribed. The corner turrets of the tower have rusticated pilasters and ogee-shaped roofs, each topped with a large wind vane. The Leeds New Workhouse was built to accommodate 800 persons at a cost of £32,000, with the foundation stone laid in 1858 and the building officially opening on March 28, 1861. It later became part of the Leeds Township Infirmary, funded by the Poor Law Guardians and built in 1874. It is now known as the Ashley Wing, part of the Elderly Services Department of St James' University Hospital.