Leeds General Infirmary: Bird's Eye View. Building News, 5 July 1867, following p. 458. [Discussion of the building as seen today.] Click on this image and the one below to enlarge them. Images and text obtained and formatted by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2011. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the source and (2) link your document to this URL or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Ground Plan with Reference (key).
The following commentary in the Building News shows how important this new hospital was, and also how much it owed to the continental model:
The new Infirmary of Leeds, which we illustrate this week, is one of the most perfect works of its kind to be found in Europe, and fully sustains the well-earned reputation of Mr. G. Gilbert Scott, R.A., its architect. It was planned on the Pavilion system, after a very careful inspection of the most famous hospitals on the continent, and embodies all the most recent improvements. The pavilions are arranged after the manner of those at the celebrated Lariboissière [stet] hospital, excepting as regards their further ends, which differ from those of any existing hospital. The central front, from which the pavilions diverge, is placed in the middle, and from it the pavilions extend towards the front and back, and on the level of the latter. The entrance is in the centre of the southern end, which is the principal front. From the entrance hall a corridor runs back nearly as far as the central court, where it reaches the main staircase, by which the corridor or cloister of that court is reached. This surrounding corridor is repeated, however, on the entrance story, and from it are hydraulic lifts for patients to each pavilion. By this arrangement there is obtained a second ground story below the ground story of the hospital itself, which is devoted to the various departments of management and administration. The proportions and general scheme of works will be seen by reference to our illustrations. We may state that the great central hall is 150ft. long by 65ft. wide, and has a finely designed iron and glass roof; and the galleries are ten in number, varying from l25ft. to 110ft. in length, by 28ft. in width. The material for walling is pressed brick, with stone dressings, &c., where indispensable. The staircases throughout the building are of stone; the ceilings are finished with Parian cement, and the floors are of oak. The foundation stone of the Infirmary was laid in March, 1864; and, as our readers are aware, the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, to take place in Leeds next year, will be held in this building, which is in every way admirably adapted for the purpose. The wards have double open stoves in the centre, the smoke being carried off by ascending flues. (457)
Source
Building News and Engineering Journal, 5 July 1867, p. 457-58. Internet Archive. Uploaded by Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto. Web. 15 September 2011.
Last modified 19 September 2011