Leeds Union Workhouse |
| Hob Uid: 1411156 | |
Location :
Leeds
Non Civil Parish
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| Grid Ref : SE3170034700 |
| Summary : Established by Leeds Board of Guardians as an industrial school in 1846-48, a new workhouse with separate chapel and infirmary were added in 1858-61, followed in 1862-63 by a mental ward block. Subsequent additions were principally of further infirmary buildings (1872-74 and 1904-12), a nurses' home (1893-94 and later) and an 'imbecile block' (1896-1900). Workhouse buildings included a new laundry (1899), casual ward (1901), receiving block (1905) and three residential blocks (1908-09). Part demolished. |
More information : The new workhouse built 1846-8 replaced the earlier inadequate workhouse in Lady Lane and was constructed with a separate chapel and infirmary next to the industrial school. In 1862-3 a separate building for the mentally ill was constructed. By 1870 the workhouse was full and a new infirmary was built in 1872-4.
The main workhouse building is T-shaped in plan and comprised a front range and rear wing housing the kitchen and dining hall. Built with brick and stone with Welsh slate roof it was three storeys high at the front. The interior of the workhouse contained the ageing and infirm which were housed separately from the idle, dissolute and profligate and the sexes were also separated with the exception of aging married couples.
In 1878 the administrative as well as the physical separation of the infirmary and workhouse was achieved and the first poor law infirmary outside London to be administered as an individual unit came about.
In the 1880s the industrial school saw the children sent to new board schools and gradually it was converted into infirmary wards and became part of the workhouse infirmary.
Later additions consisted a nurses home (1893 and later) and 'imbecile block' (1896-1900) and other workhouse buildings such as laundry, casual ward, receiving block and three residential blocks. Further additions carried on until around 1913.
During the First World War the workhouse was used for wounded officers and then for the duration of the war was known as the East Leeds War Hospital.
New buildings were commissioned during the mid 1930s and opened in 1940. A development plan for the hospital, produced in 1963 was put into effect with the first three phases completed in the 1970s. They and subsequent work involved the demolition of 19th and early 20th Century buildings.
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