The Friday Photo: Skin Hospital, John Bright Street

This listed building on John Bright Street is a former hospital, built in 1881, it opened in 1888. It was originally Birmingham Skin and Urinary Hospital but I’ve heard it described as the Birmingham Skin and Lock Hospital and I wondered what that meant. After a little research it seems that Lock Hospitals were for the treatment of people with venereal diseases. The hospital had three entrances, one for staff, one for men and one for women and children. In 1935 the main skin hospital moved to new premises but the John Bright Street building remained open as an outpatients department until 1983.