[3] The building, completed in 1875, is a noted example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture and a prominent landmark, sitting on a mount overlooking the surrounding roads.

[1] The former hospital building has now been converted into flats and is at the centre of a new housing development called Barnes Village.

[4] Following the improvements to nursing inspired by the work of Florence Nightingale in the 1860s, demand for convalescent care grew in the British hospital system.

The location of only one of these is known today; this consists of a crosshead of Celtic cross form with a central boss, and dates from the late 10th or 11th century.

It was estimated the hospital treated tens of thousands of patients over its 115 years as a convalescent home.

[11] It closed in September 1999 while Central Manchester Healthcare NHS Trust was undergoing a £2 million cost cut.

[15] The hospital was sold in 2001,[3] and was for a number of years owned by Realty Estates who allowed the listed building to fall into a state of dereliction.

Alterations to the building were carried out in 1893 by Pennington & Bridgen, and again in 1939-45 by Thomas Worthington & Son, both Mancunian architects' firms.

Grau's careful choice of locations was praised by critics for its depiction of England as "a very bleak place indeed, full of sinister quietness", and he emphasised the sense of Gothic decay in Barnes Hospital to create the fictional Manchester Morgue.

[19][20] In September 2005, the Barnes Hospital building was featured on the paranormal reality television series, Most Haunted Live.