Description

The following buildings shall be added to the list;
WOODWATER LANE
1.
1092
SX 99 SE/1200 Digby Hospital
II
2.
Hospital, formerly Lunatic Asylum. 1882-6 by R Stark Wilkinson architect for Exeter
City Council. Red brick, faience details, slate and lead roofs. H plan with separate
male and female sides. Italianate with some "Queen Anne" references. Entrance
(north) front for reception and services has 2 storey centre and single storey wings,
3 storey towers. South front (the wards) has 3 storey gable end - on centrepiece,
2 storey wings with 3 returned hipped roofed gables blocks to both wings, 3 storey end
block towers with 4th storey for water tanks. Tripartite entrance block elevation
has 2 outer 2 bay pavilions, centre with 2 ground and 2 first floor sashes with lower
plate glass and upper glazing barred sashes. Slightly recessed centre has 2 ground
and 2 first floor windows. Arched doorcase under bracketted and pedimented canopy,
plaque with date 1885. Moulded faience end pilasters to pavilions and architraves to
all door and window openings. Conical roofs with finials to pavilions. Flanking
recessed single storey wings with Male and Female entrances, storey towers. South
(ward) elevation has dominant 3 bay centrepiece with 3 basement segmental arched
openings, piano nobile with 3 arched headed windows with fixed glazing bar fanlight
heads with dividing pilasters, balustrades and architraves. Banded pediment with
cornices and raised centre forming base to partly dismantled bell cote. Arched
windows to returns, all details in faience. 8 bay recessed wings with 3 bay returned
gables flanked by conical roofed towers repeated in 2 further wings and 2 further
returns, faience details to openings, string courses and cornices throughout. Stacks
cut down at eaves. Distinctive end stopping element to facades provided by 4 storey
towers with bell profile lead conical roofs with finials, faience details. The design
was the result of a competition entered by 40 and selected from 8 finalists. Faience
details supplied at a cost of £6000 half by a Chudleigh, Devon, firm and half by
Doulton of Lambeth, an unusually rich decorative treatment for an asylum. See
Builder XLIII 16 September 1882, pp 358-9, 376-377

Listing NGR: SX9582191257

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26518589

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)