Former Nurses' Home and Outpatients' Clinic at Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital, St Michael's, Coventry

Summary

A former outpatients’ clinic (1909) and nurses' home (1906) for Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital built to a design by Alfred Hessell Tiltman (1854-1910) and Herbert William Chattaway (1855-1940).

Description

The former NURSES' HOME

MATERIALS: red brick with stone dressings (as shown on photographs taken in 1994: all windows are currently boarded up), and a tiled pitched roof with overhanging eaves and four axial ridge stacks in brick, and an external gable stack at its south end.

PLAN: a five-bay rectangular plan. Based on an external inspection only, it is probably of double width with a central corridor running along its full length, and with a stairwell at its south end (near the nurses' entrance). The later 1930s wings extending from its north end and the wall extending from its south-east corner enclosing the courtyard are not of special interest.

EXTERIOR: the front elevation has two projecting bays at either end with decorative timber barge-boards to the pitched roof, each with a carved crocodile to the centre. Each has a canted bay window at ground floor level with double-chamfered windows, with a square bay window with chamfered mullioned twin windows above, both with castellated parapets. The gables above the bays have decorative timber framing surrounding a central four-light, timber casement window. The three bays to the centre have stone mullioned windows to the ground floor with a just off-centre, round-arched entrance porch, with steps leading up to it. The first floor, now pebble-dashed replacing former tile-hanging, has six by two light timber casement windows to each bay, with four light flat-roofed dormers above, possibly inserted later.

The rear elevation is of similar design, though with only slightly projecting outer gables and two smaller gables to the centre, all with decorative timber barge boards and timber framing, matching that of the front elevation. The ground floor could not be seen, but the two outer gables have stone mullion windows at first floor level. Tile hanging to the first floor with attic above, with the remaining windows being a mixture of timber and metal casement windows.

The projecting south gable end, probably containing the stairwell with a room at the top floor, has a small two storey lean-two with a tiled roof to its left. It has a round-arched entrance to the ground floor (probably the nurses’ entrance) with a stone mullion window to the above left and above to the right is a decorative stone plaque inscribed with the words: ‘This foundation stone inaugurating the extension and reconstruction of this hospital was laid by the Countess of Craven 26th July 1906 A Hessell Tiltman FRIBA Herbert W Chattaway Joint Architects’.

INTERIOR: could not be inspected.

The former OUTPATIENTS’ CLINIC

MATERIALS: red brick with a tiled octagonal roof having overhanging eaves and terminating in a lead-covered, louvered ventilation fleche.

PLAN: a central octagonal double-height waiting hall surrounded by single storey, projecting, flat-roofed clinics. To the south-east and south-west it has two late C20 single storey flat roofed annexes, linked to the main building by a covered walkway, which are not of special interest.

EXTERIOR: the alternate sides of the octagonal waiting hall are lit by tall windows, with glazing bars and small square-leaded panes, which rise through the roof and terminate with hipped roofs and finials. The clinics have cambered arch sashes in moulded brick surrounds and wide, segmental-headed windows, and a continuous tile-capped blocking course. Original shaped rainwater heads and down-pipes.

INTERIOR: plain with doors leading off into the individual clinics and the original ventilation system surviving. Set in the wall surrounding the central hall, outside one of the individual clinic entrances, is a small drinking fountain. The hall contains a demountable mezzanine floor, installed in the late C20. The central ventilation fleche to the plastered dome rests on a circular cast iron ring with the name James Keith & Blackman.

History

The former outpatients’ clinic and nurses' home formed part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital. This was built in 1864 and completed and opened to the public in 1867, to a design by Neville and Son of Coventry. Due to a significant increase in population, work started in 1906 on the extension of the hospital which incorporated the building of the nurses' home (completed in 1907) and the outpatients’ clinic (completed in 1909). These were designed by the Scottish architect Alfred Hessell Tiltman (1854-1910), who was based in London, and Herbert William Chattaway (1855-1940) of Coventry. As shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map 1:2500, published in 1914, the two buildings flanked the main central block of the hospital which faced Stoney Stanton Road. In the late 1930s the nurses’ home had been extended by three wings enclosing a square courtyard to the rear of the earlier building. During the Coventry air raids in 1940 and 1941 the main block of the hospital was destroyed, but both the outpatients’ clinic and the nurses’ home survived. In 1948 the hospital became part of the NHS and the Birmingham Regional Hospital's Board.

Reasons for Listing

The former Nurses’ Home and Outpatient’s Clinic at the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Architectural interest: the buildings, planned and built as a group, display good quality architectural detailing, with the outpatients’ clinic’s octagonal plan being a rare survival.

* Historic interest: they illustrate and significantly contribute to the understanding of the historic development of this important hospital and their association with the Coventry air raids in 1940 and 1941 adds considerably to their historic interest.

* Intactness: despite some later alterations both buildings have survived substantially intact.

* Group value: the two buildings, planned and built by the same architects, form a strong group.

External Links

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