Introduction
The Algernon Firth Building is one of the most remarkable inter-war buildings in Leeds. Completed in 1933, it is largely hidden from public view by the Clarendon Wing of the General Infirmary. Even the name of its principal benefactor is only evident on a small, temporary-looking sign inside the entrance; the name of the building on the architrave above is simply given as “INSTITUTE OF PATHOLOGY”.
Exterior
The architectural tourist can only view the building’s façade by making a detour around the Old Medical School. Though first impressions may be negative, especially on a rainy day, further inspection reveals beautiful sculpting. A series of planes recede from the central doorway and staircase above; seven bays of vertically accentuated windows and then further recessed narrow bays leading to the side elevations.
The detailing of the brickwork is especially superb in the window reveals, where the English-bond is terminated in alternate rows of projecting and recessed bricks. These rows continue as a strong vertical element to the full three-storey height. The spaces between the steel “Crittall” windows are filled with chevron-pattern brickwork and the floor divisions on the wide central staircase window are marked with chevron-marked iron beams. The doorway is surrounded by powerfully sculpted blocks of Portland, notable for their characteristic patterns of fossils.
The Architect and his influences
The Algernon Firth Building was designed by John Clifford Proctor, a Leeds architect of great versatility whose work almost wholly encompasses the inter-war period. This includes ‘Greycourt’ in Gledhow, a bungalow in a neo-classical ‘French’ style; Devonshire Hall of Residence (‘more Oxbridge than Oxbridge’); a number of flat-roofed white rendered ‘modernist’ houses in Adel and Ilkley and, perhaps of least architectural note, the University Student Union and Staff House on the University of Leeds campus. The Union and Staff House were completed just before the Second World War.
What inspired Proctor to create the Algernon Firth Building? Author Peter Leach describes it as “Art Deco”, but the brickwork owes much to the style of Willem Marinus Dudok (1884-1974) Dudok was a widely influential Dutch architect whose work, especially his masterpiece the Hilversum Town Hall, would have certainly been known to Proctor. His brickwork, design and construction may have been a direct source of inspiration.
Interior
Since completion in 1933, the Algernon Firth Building has been modified to accommodate the modern needs of the pathology department it housed. The sides are equipped with fire escapes and ventilation shafts; the Art Deco balustrades of the grand staircase have been altered to accommodate a lift shaft. Though the attic, once a museum space, is now partitioned off, the roof itself is of great interest. Curved concrete beams support a ziggurat of three recessed tiers of windows, which provide diffuse light and eliminate glare.
Also worth noting in the building is a bas-relief in the entrance foyer dedicated to Professor Matthew John Stewart and a plaque in the former museum recording the gift of £1000 from Charles Ratcliffe Brotherton in April 1933.
There is no plaque or other memorial recognising the benefaction of Sir Algernon Firth, who gave a total of £25,000 to the University for the building of The Institute of Pathology.
