Original Infirmary and Corson's Pavilion Wing

This hospital complex, including its chapel, comprises two principal elements: the original infirmary built between 1864 and 1868 to designs by George Gilbert Scott (who was knighted in 1872), and an additional pavilion ward block constructed between 1889 and 1892 by George Corson.

Several later extensions are excluded from the listing: the 1956 metabolic ward (later the pharmacy) built between the central and west pavilions on the north side; the clinical theatre of 1973 (now the Kaberry Lecture Theatre) between the central and east pavilions; two small single-storey flat-roofed buildings in the angles between the diagonal corner towers of the east and central pavilions; the 1974 office block in the central court west of the chapel; the brick lift shaft in the north-west corner of the central court; and the modern loading bay on the west side of the west pavilion on the south side. The later upper storeys added to the north and south covered corridors flanking the central court and the modern large access ramps in the west pavilion on the north side are also excluded.

Materials

The original infirmary is constructed of red brick with Bramley Fall stone dressings, red granite pillars, and slate roofs. Corson's pavilion ward block uses red brick with sandstone dressings and slate roofs.

Layout and Form

The original infirmary is arranged around an east-west aligned central closed court. The western side of the court has a carriage entrance, whilst the eastern side houses the chapel. Three long parallel pavilion wings extend from both the north and south sides of this central court. The ground slopes downward towards the south, which allows for a lower ground floor on that side.

On the south side, which forms the main façade, the pavilions rise to three storeys. The central entrance wing features a porte-cochere at lower ground-floor level. The outer wings originally contained wards on the two upper floors (now subdivided administration spaces) with lower ground floors accommodating administration and storerooms. These wings are linked by single-storey ranges at the front, with a two-storey and a single-storey mid-point linking range.

On the north side, the three pavilions are two storeys high and contain wards (now administration and circulation spaces) with partial basements. The ward pavilions have projecting square sanitary towers at their outer ends. Those in the central and eastern pavilion wings on the north side remain in this use.

Corson's three-storey pavilion wing stands parallel to the pavilion on the east side of the main south façade and is connected to it by a single-storey arcade.

The Original Infirmary

Exterior

The main façade faces south, overlooking but set back from Great George Street. Scott designed the building in the Gothic Revival style using brick with Venetian Gothic windows featuring stone plate tracery and two-centred arches of two colours with alternating brick and stone voussoirs. Some windows incorporate polished granite pillars. The upper floors have moulded sill strings, with moulded strings between the lower floors. The southern ends of the southern pavilions feature corbelled and arcaded parapets, whilst the northern ends of the northern pavilions have corbelled brick parapets. The buildings have steep château-style slate roofs with brick stacks, some of which have been truncated. Due to the fall in ground level, what appears as the ground floor is actually at lower ground-floor level in relation to the whole complex.

The central main entrance block rises three storeys over five bays, with an attic and a large gable above the three slightly projecting central bays. The ground floor features a porte-cochere of three cusped Gothic arches in brick and stone with polished granite columns. The first floor has two-light windows with plate tracery. The second floor displays pointed-arch lancets. The gable contains a central two-light window with plate tracery. Two truncated brick ridge stacks flank the gable.

Attached to each side of the entrance block is a five-bay linking arcade of Gothic arches with alternating stone and brick voussoirs, plate tracery windows, and arcaded parapets. The central window in the right-hand linking arcade was originally a doorway. A shallow pitched roof sits behind the left-hand linking arcade. Behind the right-hand linking arcade is a taller hipped roof with two brick ridge stacks and five dormer windows on the south side.

The two outer pavilions are three storeys high. Their south ends feature a central gabled bay flanked by diagonally projecting square corner towers. Each face of the ground floor has two-light windows with quatrefoils above. The first floor displays a large three-light window with central rail to the central bay, and paired two-light windows with central rails and roundels above to the corner towers. The second floor has a large three-light window with central rail and rose window tracery to the head, with paired two-lancet windows in the corner towers. The corner towers are topped with steep pyramidal roofs featuring decorative ironwork to the short ridges. Tall brick stacks with hipped roofs to the pavilions stand to their rear.

The west side elevation faces Thoresby Place. At its centre is a set-back two-storey five-bay range. The slightly projecting gabled central bay contains a wide Gothic carriage entrance with alternating stone and brick voussoirs and an inner band of stone voussoirs with stone pillars, flanked by buttresses. Above on the first floor is a two-light window with plate tracery. The other ground-floor bays have paired lancet windows with paired square-headed windows on the first floor. The pitched roof features two small dormer windows on each side of the central gable, with two brick ridge stacks flanking the gable. Single-storey single bays with arcaded parapets link this range to the long pavilion wings on each side. A later mezzanine floor has been inserted in one carriage archway, and later single-storey extensions have been built on the link bays.

The left-hand north pavilion wing is two storeys high and nine bays long, with a diagonally projecting square corner tower at the left-hand corner. The second and third bays and the fifth and sixth bays both have gabled stacks, now truncated. The eighth and ninth gabled bays project slightly. The right-hand south pavilion wing rises three storeys over ten bays with a diagonally projecting square corner tower at the right-hand corner. The first and second gabled bays project slightly. The fourth and fifth bays and the eighth and ninth bays both have gabled stacks, now truncated. The windows throughout are mostly Gothic arches with plate tracery and alternating stone and brick voussoirs. The upper-storey windows between the gables project through the eaves with pointed gablets.

The north side elevation faces the south side of an access road and displays the ends of three equally spaced pavilions. All are similarly detailed to the ends of the south ward pavilions, with a central gabled bay flanked by diagonally projecting square corner towers.

The east side elevation is largely obscured by later buildings but mirrors the west side elevation, with the exception of the central range, which is occupied by the chapel. This features a polygonal east apse with three large arched windows containing plate tracery and stained glass.

The spaces between the south pavilions and entrance wing have always been enclosed by the linking arcades. At the midpoint between the central entrance wing and the west pavilion stands a two-storey link range of brick with a hipped slate roof. The ground floor on the south side is obscured. The first floor has six windows with three tall eaves stacks between them, fitted with two-over-two pane sash windows. The north side shows a difference in brick between the ground and first floors. The ground floor has five tall casement windows with stone sills and lintels, with a doorway in the sixth bay. The first floor has four windows, the one in the second bay now converted to a doorway with an external fire escape. To the rear is the wall of the south corridor flanking the original central court, which has been raised by an extra storey in brick with horizontal rows of windows. Projecting out is the roof of a polygonal-ended room. Its walls have been incorporated into a later single-storey extension with six full-height square-headed windows with stone sills and lintels. The first and second-bay windows are partially obscured by a small flat-roofed brick extension.

At the midpoint between the central entrance wing and the east pavilion stands a single-storey building (the original outpatients' department) with a central canted bay on the south side. The south elevation is built of white reflective bricks with stone sill and lintel bands and coping to a parapet. The windows have timber casements. The north side has a three-bay stepped elevation with the central bay projecting furthest. It is built of red brick with a plinth and stone sills and lintels to the timber casement windows. Two basement windows have separate areas lined with white reflective bricks with stone coping and cast-iron railings round them, with a flight of external basement steps against the building's wall.

On the south side of this building is a small courtyard and the north side of the two-storey building behind the linking arcade. It is faced in white reflective bricks with a stone canted bay window on the ground floor facing that on the outpatients' department building, with a doorway to the right. The first floor has four one-over-one pane sash windows. The east and west sides of the courtyard have single-storey lean-to rooms with similar stone canted bay windows. The east bay window and south bay window are partially obscured by a single-storey flat-roofed timber room. To the rear of the north side of the outpatients' department building, the wall of the south corridor has been similarly raised by an extra storey, and there is a similar projecting polygonal-ended room. It has arched windows with alternating stone and brick voussoirs and decorative brickwork to the heads.

The originally open spaces between the north pavilions have been largely infilled with buildings dating from after the mid-20th century, which are not listed. The north wall of the north corridor flanking the central court has a central polygonal-ended room, mainly obscured by the later extensions.

The west side of the central court features a slightly projecting gabled central bay with a wide Gothic carriage entrance with alternating stone and brick voussoirs and an inner band of stone voussoirs with stone pillars, flanked by buttresses. The first floor above has a two-light window with plate tracery. The ground floor to the left has three arched windows with alternating stone and brick voussoirs and decorative brickwork to the heads, fitted with timber casement windows. To the right are two similar windows. The first floor has a blind arcade. The roof has a catslide dormer window on each side of the central gable. The original north and south long sides have large arched windows with stone and brick voussoirs separated by brick buttresses. The windows have timber frames with roundels to the heads.

Interior

Many original panelled doors remain in the central entrance block of the south façade. The main entrance doorway leads into an entrance hall with a fireplace on the left in Gothic Revival style featuring flanking columns and a pitched overmantel carved in a fish-scale pattern. The walls carry a series of tablets recording benefactions. Towards the rear of the entrance hall is an arcade of three pointed arches with marble columns and stiff-leaf capitals.

From the entrance hall, a central passage runs north to an inner hall at the foot of the main stairs. The top-lit passage has arched trusses rising from marble wall shafts with stone corbels and capitals carved with medicinal plants by Brindley. The passage and inner hall have colourful mosaic and polychrome tile floors. The inner hall has a flat ceiling with intersecting ribs and a triple-arched arcade with a central round arch of three orders flanked by pointed arches leading into the stair hall.

The main staircase has stone steps, cantilevered in the upper flights, and a balustrade of wrought and cast iron comprising columns and rails with fleur-de-lis finials and wooden handrail. A central flight of steps rises to a landing before dividing and rising in two stages to the main ground floor of the hospital. The staircase rises to a fine landing supported on a grid of intersecting iron beams with decoratively pierced webs. The landing has a high barrel-vaulted roof with intersecting ribs, lit by two large three-light windows containing stained glass in ornate panels by O'Connor of London dating from 1868.

On the south side there are three doorways opening into the former operating theatre, which retains its original lantern window. The large central arched doorway has panelled double doors with the Leeds coat of arms in the tympanum. A three-bay arcade of pointed arches with granite columns on the north side leads into the south corridor, lit from the central court and leading to wards and the chapel of St Luke.

The chapel of St Luke at the east end of the central court comprises a nave, sanctuary, west gallery, vestry, and office. The three-light canted east window contains stained glass depicting scenes of Christ's healing ministry dating from 1868 and 1880, dedicated by Sir Andrew and Lady Fairbairn and John Deakin Heaton, honorary physician from 1850 to 1880. At the west end is a 'Lamb of God' rose window with stained glass depicting angels playing musical instruments. There is a carved oak pulpit (dedicated to the memory of William Gott, who died in 1863), moved from its original position. The panelled reredos with vine scroll featuring carved cusped panels and reset small figures of Florence Nightingale and St Luke dates from between 1926 and 1929, and the wall panelling was installed in 1929. The west gallery contains an organ from 1910. The double west doors have elaborate scrolled wrought-iron hinges.

A number of staircases survive throughout the building, including stone cantilevered staircases with iron balusters and wooden handrails at opposite ends of the outer diagonal sanitary tower blocks and on the west side of the entrance hall; narrow stone staircases set between solid walls of rooms; and a decorative cast-iron staircase with wooden handrail in the south-west pavilion wing. The lower ground floors on the south side largely retain the layout of small and medium rooms used by staff. A number of paired decorative iron columns remain in the position of the former outpatients' waiting room. The original outpatients' department building has a terrazzo corridor with rooms with panelled doors on each side.

The wards in the pavilion wings are each on two storeys. The open wards have been subdivided into smaller rooms in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and the north-west ward wing has had the upper floor removed and modern walkways inserted along its length. The upper floors have open arched roofs and cast-iron ventilation shafts.

Corson's Pavilion Wing

Exterior

This three-storey building stands on the east side of the original south façade of the infirmary, built parallel to the east pavilion. It is designed in the Gothic Revival style in brick with steep slate roofs, mirroring the design of the original infirmary. The south end appears the same as the south ends of the original pavilions, with a central gabled bay flanked by diagonally projecting square corner towers. Each face of the ground floor has two-light windows with quatrefoils above. The first floor has a large three-light window with central rail to the central bay and paired two-light windows with central rails and roundels above to the corner towers. The second floor has a large three-light window with central rail and a boarded round window to the head, with paired two-lancet windows in the corner towers. The corner towers have steep pyramidal roofs with decorative ironwork to the short ridges (missing on the right).

The building is attached to the east pavilion by an arcade of four arches with stone and brick voussoirs, Gothic crocket capitals, and paired polished granite columns on high stone bases. Above is an arcaded parapet.

The outer east side elevation is three storeys high and nine bays long with a diagonally projecting square corner tower at the left-hand corner. The second and third bays have a gabled stack. The fifth, sixth, and seventh bays are in a projecting gabled wing with a stack at the apex. The upper-storey windows between the gables project through the eaves with pointed gablets. The majority of windows on all floors are arched with stone and brick voussoirs and stone plate tracery. The projecting gable has rows of three narrow lancet windows with a roundel in the gable apex.

Interior

The two wards on each floor, separated by a central staircase, sanitary and staff block, have been subdivided into smaller rooms in the late 20th or early 21st century. An original iron staircase connects all the floors.