Knowle Hospital, former County Pauper Asylum

Knowle Hospital, formerly known as the County Pauper Asylum, was built between 1850 and 1852 and features some 20th-century alterations. It was designed by J Harris and is constructed of red brick in Flemish bond with hipped Welsh slate roofs. The building is in a classical style, with a brick plinth, brick lintels, and stone cills.

The central administration block is three stories high and has an eleven-window facade arranged in a 4:3:4 pattern with a recessed center. This center features a painted ashlar porch supported by coupled Doric columns and an entablature, with central double doors flanked by single pilasters. On either side are single sash windows, and three sashes are found on each floor above. The slightly projecting side blocks each have four sash windows per floor. At the top, a central clock tower sits on a square brick base, featuring a central clock face flanked by single pilasters that support an entablature. Above this is an octagonal cupola with arches on all four major faces, topped with a leaded dome and a metal weather vane.

The ward blocks on either side consist of long, low two-story wings with glazing bar sashes, linked to three-story end pavilions. At the rear of the wings are projecting blocks, with the inner ones featuring canted two-story bay windows. Each end pavilion has five sash windows on each face and a pyramidal hipped roof with large central combined stacks. Behind each pavilion is a ward block with cross-plan ends and two-story canted bay windows. The recreational hall, located at the rear of the central administrative block, has a rear facade with three tall round-headed windows topped by an ashlar pediment that contains a circular window. Its roof features a wooden octagonal cupola with an ogee leaded dome and a bell, while the side facades each have four tall round-headed windows, along with various 20th-century inserts.