Trail:

Old Medical School

The school was opened in October 1894 for 80 students. It succeeded Leeds' first medical school which was founded in 1831 and occupied a house in East Parade by 1834. The first purpose-built premises for the school were designed by George Corson in Park Street in 1865. The present building by W.H. Thorp in a TudorGlossary Term GothicGlossary Term style, of three storeys and attics, and built of local brick with Mansfield stone dressingsGlossary Term. All carving is by J.W.Appleyard. It stands closeGlossary Term to the Leeds General Infirmary, on an awkward island site. Its form is a U-plan, open on the W side with the main entrance towards the Infirmary crowned with a battlemented tower surmounted by a wooden domed lanternGlossary Term. Refurbished 1984-5 by John Brunton Partnership, its interior is well preserved: the entrance hall is paved in lovely glowing pink mosaic with bands of flowers; the walls lined with mellow green tiles moulded into naturalistic patterns in the responds of arches which open into the separate departments. A wide staircase with cast ironGlossary Term balustrade rises opposite. The W side of the School is closed by John C. Proctor's plain brick wing of 1930.

Glossary

Cast iron

Hard and brittle iron, cast in a mould to the required shape rather than forged. Compare wrought iron.

Close

The precinct of a cathedral. Also (Scots) a courtyard or passage giving access to a number of buildings.

Dressings

The stone or brickwork worked to a finished face about an angle, opening, or other feature.

Gothic

The style of the Middle Ages from the later 12th century to the Renaissance, with which it co-existed in certain forms into the 17th century. Characterized in its full development by the pointed arch, the rib-vault and an often skeletal masonry structure for churches, combined with large glazed windows. The term was originally associated with the concept of the barbarian Goths as assailants of classical civilization.

Lantern

Circular or polygonal windowed turret crowning a roof or a dome. Also the windowed stage of a crossing tower lighting a church interior.

Tudor

Strictly, the architecture of the English Tudor dynasty (1485-1603), but used more often for late Gothic secular buildings especially of the first half of the 16th century. These use a simplified version of Perpendicular, characterised by straight-headed mullioned windows with arched lights, and by rooflines with steep gables and tall chimneys, often asymmetrically placed.

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