Description

TORQUAY

SX9164 UNION STREET
885-1/14/284 (North East side)
10/01/75 Castle Chambers
(Formerly Listed as:
UPPER UNION STREET
Castle Chambers)

GV II

Hospital, now used as County court. 1850 in origin, brought
"up to date" 1892-93, contractor Joshua Chubb of Torquay
(Ellis, p.438), architect unknown to date. Snecked local grey
limestone with Bathstone and limestone ashlar dressings;
gabled slate roofs; stacks with stone shafts with moulded
cornices. Tudor style with Perpendicular arches.
PLAN: Deep, approximately rectangular plan with a rear yard
bounded by smaller buildings including a former mortuary, now
in commercial use.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys and attic, rear elevation 4 storeys and
attic Almost symmetrical 7-bay front, the centre bay a
machicolated tower, broken forward and crowned by an octagonal
bell turret with spire. 3 coped gabled bays with kneelers, of
various heights, to right and left, the outer bays broken
forward. Stone mullioned windows throughout, mostly with
transoms and dripmoulds with carved label stops.
Projecting single-storey embattled porch with a coped gable in
the centre with angle butresses with batters with a
moulded-arched outer doorway with carved spandrels and a
square-headed dripmould with carved label stops. 2-leaf door
with blind tracery; moulded arched inner doors. First-floor
canted bay window above the porch; pair of arched traceried
3rd floor windows with transoms and dripmoulds.
Tudor-arched doorway in first bay from left with dripmould and
carved label stops. Bell turret has trefoil-headed louvred
openings below a lead spine with lucarnes and an iron finial.
Rear elevation incorporates small lancet style mortuary.
INTERIOR: Not inspected but may retain features of interest.
Ellis gives a full history of the funding of the various
stages of the building and the local philanthropists involved,
pp.437-440. A new hospital was built on a different site in
1924.
(Ellis CA: An Historical Survey of Torquay, 2nd edition:
1930-: P.438).

Listing NGR: SX9119364433

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26502060

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)