During the First World War the Workhouse building was used as the Cowley section of the 3rd Southern General Hospital.
<font face="courier new">[[File:military_hospital_at_workhouse.jpg|frame| </font><span class="big_text">Postcard by Henry Taunt showing the Cowley Road Workhouse in use as a military hospital d</span>uring the First World War. The sign at the front reads: “3rd Southern General Hospital: Cowley section: No admittance except on business”.<font face="courier new">]]</font>
The building became a geriatric hospital in 1929, and the place of death of many people is described in burial registers as "205A Cowley Road". In 1951 the first geriatric day hospital in the country was opened on the site. The hospital closed in about 1983.<ref>[http://www.oxfordshirehealtharchives.nhs.uk/hospitals/cowley_road.htm/ Oxfordshire Health Archives: Cowley Road Hospital]</ref>