Description

MAGDALEN STREET SX 9292 SW 871/6/10004 The Exeter Eye Hospital (also known as the West of England Eye Infirmary) including boundary walls to north and east

GV II

Eye Hospital. Built 1902-1908 to the designs of Mr (later Sir Alfred) Brumwell Thomas; contractor Stephens and Son of Exeter. Dark red brick laid in English bond; ashlar stone dressings and some stone banding; slate roofs; stacks with brick shafts banded with stone. Baroque revival. Plan: Asymmetrical plan, the principal entrance on the north side, overlooking Magdalen Street with a court-yard in front. The earliest part of the hospital to be built was the east wing, overlooking Bull Meadow, and the central block. These were completed by 1900 and opened in 1901. The west wing, which involved demolishing the old hospital, was nearly complete by 1908 but according to Russell, Thomas' original plan was never completed. Exterior: Well-preserved externally. 3 storeys. Moulded stone stringcourses, one at first floor level, another forming a continuous sill band below the second floor windows; stone eaves cornice. Original windows throughout, nearly all with their original small-pane sashes intact. Chimney shafts with 2 deep projecting cornices, the lower cornice on brackets. The main range has an asymmetrical 13 plus 1-bay north front, the one bay (at the west end) being a projecting corner turret. The entrance block is the three central bays of the 13, broken forward and flanked by shallow turrets with diagonal shafts. The turrets are topped with elaborate domed stone finials. Between the turrets the coped brickwork ramps up to a taller, freestanding stone plaque with pilasters and a scrolled pediment. The plaque is inscribed 'The West of England Eye Infirmary, rebuilt 1901'. The principal doorway in the centre has a recessed porch with a segmental-headed archway with a keystone and a moulded eared architrave. Round-headed recesses above all but the entrance block windows. To left and right of the entrance block the ground floor windows are round-headed with glazed panels above the sashes and keystones attached to the first floor string. The first floor windows are segmental headed with glazed panels above the sashes. Two bands of stone decorate the second floor, which has segmental-headed sashes divided by paired pilasters. The courtyard in front of the building is bounded by attractive contemporary ramped brick walls with moulded stone coping (railings missing). The walls curve inwards to two gate- ways with square section brick piers with moulded cornices and obelisk finials on stems with an egg and dart cornice. At the east (left) end the 6-bay inner return of the east wing continues in a matching style with a porch in the inner angle. The north end of the wing has a 3- storey canted bay with a domed lead roof. The east elevation (the Bull Meadow side) is 15 bays with two separately-roofed canted stair turrets with tall finials. A single- storey block adjoins at the north. The rear (south) elevation of the main block and the west wing are slightly plainer, without the stone banding that decorates the front elevation and east wing, but retain their original windows. Tall coped brick walls bound the site to the rear. Interior: Inside the porch its ceiling is a coffered plaster vault. The entrance hall has a good marble chimney piece probably from an earlier house and a memorial plaque above. Other original features included glazed brick walls and ceiling of the corridors and operating theatre and a tessellated marble floor. The Exeter eye hospital was the first provincial eye hospital to be established following the foundation of Moorfields in 1804. The competition for the new building, designed to accommodate 85 patients and an outpatients department, was assessed by Mr Charles Barry. The estimated cost was £19,000 with an additional £6,000 for furniture and fittings. The money was raised by a public appeal. Thomas (1868- 1948) designed a number of town halls in a neo-Baroque or Baroque- Classic style: Belfast City Hall; Stockport Town Hall and Plumstead Town Hall. An impressive building, very unspoiled externally and an important focus on the edge of Exeter City centre. Sources: Russell, P M G, A History of the Exeter Hospitals (1976). Stuart Gray, A. Edwardian Architecture: A Biographical Dictionary (1985).

Listing NGR: SX9233592273

External Links

• The Exeter Eye Hospital Including Boundary Walls To North And East at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q26557200

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.

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