This building was the premises of the Leeds Public dispensary from 1865 to 1904.   The Dispensary was founded in 1824 at the House of Recovery as a means of dispensing medicine to outpatients.  In November 1827, it moved to 123 (later 171) North St. (now Vicar Lane) at the corner of Templar St., almost opposite the present location but now demolished.  In the 1860s, buildings were erected where you now stand at the angle of Upper Briggate and Vicar Lane, opening in 1865.  In 1904 the institution finally moved to the purpose-built building which still stands on the junction of North Street and Back Brunswick Street, now called the Centenary Buildings (also visible from the current location), after which this building became the Leeds Chest Clinic.  The Dispensary finally closed in 1971.

Heaton became the Physician to the Leeds Dispensary in October 1843 (Journal, i. pp. 70-1), a post he held until 1860.  This was his first major medical appointment in the town.  Usually there were three physicians, but by November 1853 he was in sole charge.  At the time he was also physician at the Infirmary and the House of Recovery.  Eventually, to force the committee to act, he handed in his resignation: this led to the appointment of two new doctors, so Heaton agreed to keep the post on.  His resignation letter is reprinted in Anning (1980), pp. 91-2.

For an image of the building before twentieth-century alterations, click here.

Further Reading:

Anning, S.T. (1980), History of Medicine in Leeds. Leeds: W. S. Maney & Sons. chapter 6.