Former Infirmary Block And Retaining Wall And Steps At Wharfedale General Hospital

The former infirmary block at Wharfedale General Hospital was built between 1871 and 1873 by architects CS and AJ Nelson for the Wharfedale Poor Law Union. It has undergone later 19th and 20th-century alterations and was converted to offices in the late 20th century. The building is constructed of coursed squared stone with ashlar dressings and features hipped Welsh slate roofs with prominent coped ridge stacks. It has a plinth and dentillated eaves and stands two storeys high with a 16-window range. Most of the windows are original glazing bar sashes.

The symmetrical frontage includes two windows in the center, flanked by round-arched doorways that have panelled doors and fanlights, which are accessed by stone steps. On each side of the central section, there are four single windows, and each end bay contains paired windows. The upper level has similar fenestration, with three narrower windows in the center. The left end features a single-storey hipped projection with a door, overlight, and a single window. Behind this projection is an external L-plan stone staircase with a renewed balustrade leading to a first-floor door flanked by a single window. The right end has a similar projection with a monopitch roof and a straight staircase leading to a 20th-century door. At the rear, there are two-storey sanitary annexes, with the eastern one extended in the early 20th century.

Inside, the ground floor stairwells have segmental vaults, cornices, and brackets, along with stone cantilever dogleg staircases featuring wrought iron stick balusters and octagonal newels. The first floor has late 20th-century partitioning, but original separate rooms remain in the end bays on each floor. Outside, there is a low retaining wall across the front of the building, which includes a pair of coped square piers in the center.