Whiteley House and Hospital, Weybridge, Surrey

Summary

Description

A former rest home for the Whiteley Homes Trust, by Sir Aston Webb, of 1921, extended by Webb around 1925 to provide wards and by Maurice Webb around 1930 to create further hospital wards and a nurses' block, with connecting walkway to the north-east.

MATERIALS: the principal phases of the building are built in brick, laid in Flemish bond, under clay-tiled roofs.
PLAN: originally a west facing rectangular building, with later phases adding cross-wings, and extensions to the rear and north end. The former hospital is also connected to a later nurses' block at the north east end by a three-storey corridor.

EXTERIOR:

HOSPITAL
The original phase is two-storey with tripartite, four over four sashes, under brick heads. The west front is of 13 bays of brown, mixed-stock brick with grey brick to the first floor, arranged symmetrically around a central entrance. Every two bays there is a rounded, brick pilaster which rises in line with the chimneys above. The entrance is set in brickwork with two courses of ball mouldings. It has a stone architrave, with rebated pattern and rose motifs to the corners. Above, there is a metal lantern on a horizontal scroll-work bracket. The recessed central doors are panelled and half-glazed. At the eaves there are courses of tile above moulded bricks. There are later, gabled, cross-wings to either end of the elevation (two-bay to the north and three-bay to the south) and the ensemble stands under a steeply-pitched roof with deep eaves. The front pitch has eight, tall, moulded brick chimney stacks with polygonal ends. The roof ridge has two, short stacks.

The later cross-wings are faced in mixed-stock and grey brick. Each has four, paired sash windows of four over four panes, separated by a central pilaster above which are niches set in stone pediments containing a hooded female figure, that to the north, carrying an anchor, that to the south, holding a heart. At the southern end, the cross-wing is attached to single-bay pavilions, which form the southern end of the east and west elevations. The pavilions are of alternating grey and mixed stock brown brick and have central, double-height, recessed round-headed arched panels with moulded keystones and cornice above. The top of the panels have round-headed casement windows.

The south elevation of the hospital has five bays, bookended by the returns of the pavilions. The ground floor has regular, tripartite windows and the rain goods are stamped 1924. The projecting first floor verandah has been infilled between the columns and has later uPVC windows and a rendered fascia. Above, there is a rendered cornice beneath a brick parapet and the flat roof has four, polygonal chimney stacks.

The return to the northern cross-wing is three-storey and has a central gable and two, polygonal chimney stacks. On the ground floor, there is a central entrance under a round-headed brick architrave with brick keystone. To either side there are multi-pane windows and those to the first and second floor are tripartite.

The west elevation of the hospital is extended northward by a set-back later phase. To the south side it has a triple-height, canted bay window with tripartite sashes (taller to the top floor), under a grey brick parapet. The north side has a bay of sash windows set into brickwork of a similar form. Attached and further to the north, there is a brown brick link between the hospital and the nurses’ block, originally of one storey but with a first and second storey added later. To the ground floor it has a pair of solid timber doors within a brick architrave, decorated with bands of moulded brick. The ground floor has a moulded brick storey band. There is a paired sash window of six over six to either side, and three more to the first and second floor.

The three-storey rear of the hospital broadly follows the same architectural treatment of the front elevation, with its use of brown and grey brick along with multi-pane sash windows, however, it is plainer and more repetitious. At the northern end it has a triple-height canted bay, the northern return of which has a group of three polygonal end chimney stacks. Further south, it has regular fenestration and is surmounted by a red and grey brick parapet, behind which there are tall, moulded brick chimney stacks. The windows are multi-pane, single, paired or tripartite sash windows interspersed with a number of service entrances and louvred doors to the ground floor. Towards the centre there is a round-headed, multi-pane, entrance door, set back under a round-headed, brick arch. Above it has a 36-pane casement window under a triangular pediment engaged with a moulded-brick cornice. Towards the southern end there is a projection which has tall and narrow, multi-pane sashes, to the second floor. The southern end of the rear elevation is terminated by the gable and pavilion of the southern cross-wing.

The NURSES’ BLOCK
The later nurses' block has a cross-shaped plan and hipped roof. It is broadly symmetrical and consists of three storeys of predominantly red-brown brick to the ground floor and grey brick on the upper floors, laid in Flemish bond, with a moulded-brick, storey band at the ground floor. The west elevation has a steeply pitched grey brick gable with red-brown rusticated brick quoins and brick coping. To the ground floor, it has two, tripartite, four over six, sash windows. The first and second floors have a central, double height, canted, oriel window with six over six sashes. The oriel has a lead-covered and panelled surround surmounted by a tented lead canopy. The south return of the gable has a pair of timber doors with multi-pane glazing that stand within a stone architrave, lit by a metal lantern. There are tripartite, multi-pane sashes to the upper floors set into red-brown brickwork. The north return is similar but has a window to the ground floor.

The three-storey rear elevation of the nurse’s block faces east on to a garden and is broadly symmetrical. The four central bays project; there is a canted entrance bay with a multi-pane garden door at the ground floor flanked by four over six sashes to each side and eight over twelve sash windows to the north and south. At the north end, the first bay is blind; the southern bay has an eight over eight sash windows. The fenestration to the upper floors is arranged as four windows to the centre and a single to the southern end bay. Those to the centre eight over eight to the first floor and eight over twelve to the second floor, beneath segmental, brick arches and a keystone. The wall to the upper floors is grey brick and the four central bays have banded brick quoins to either side. The roof has two, tall chimney stacks of grey brick with red-brown detailing.

INTERIOR: within the hospital and nurses' block, the fixtures and fittings are mainly functional and late C20. A few of the hospital rooms retain simple, brick fireplace surrounds and the sitting and dining rooms, have solid timber doors and architraves, decorative mouldings to the walls and a deep moulded skirting beneath the windows. These rooms also have an Art Deco-type marble fireplace and polished steel fire backs. The 1921, dogleg, open-string stairs have ramped, moulded timber handrails and squared newel posts along with plain, metal balusters. The later hospital extension stairs are of similar design; however, the balusters have cross-bracing.

Some rooms within the nurses' block retain their original solid timber doors and architraves, along with brass door furniture. The timber, dog-leg stairs have a moulded handrail, squared newel posts, plain pendants and bobbin balusters. The connecting walkway between the nurse’s block and hospital has diamond-patterned tiles of terracotta and black, to the ground floor.

History

Whiteley Village is named after its philanthropic founder, William Whiteley (1832-1907) who developed a successful retail business based on a large department store in Bayswater, London. He was murdered in his office by Horace Rayner, who claimed to be his illegitimate son. In his will, Whiteley made arrangements for the funding of a retirement village and its administration by a board of trustees.

In 1911 a site of 225 acres was purchased to the south of Weybridge, Surrey. The masterplan by Robert F Atkinson, allowed for a north-south spine road, with a grid and circus to the north (not realised) and radial spokes to the south, connected to a western road, where the first cottages were built in 1913. They were designed by Walter Cave and subsequently, Atkinson, Cave and five other leading architects, were each asked to design a single block of properties in the centre of Atkinson’s layout interlocking with those adjacent. Each block was to consist of 16 one-storey cottages for single pensioners; four, two-storey cottages for eight pensioners; six larger cottages for couples; and a nurses’ cottage, making around 216 cottages in all.

The architectural attribution is as follows; Robert F Atkinson (1871-1923) West Avenue, Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) North Avenue, Walter Cave (1863-1939) Chestnut Walk, Sir Ernest George (1856-1922) East Avenue and Hornbeam Walk, Mervyn McCartney (1853-1932) South Avenue, Ernest Newton (1856-1922) East Avenue, and Sir Aston Webb (1849-1930) The Green.

The style of the village is described in the Buildings of England volume for Surrey (1982, p 520-521) as; ‘broadly speaking, that of the Hampstead Garden Suburb begun in 1907, both in its Parker & Unwin and in its Lutyens aspects. But whereas Sir Raymond Unwin’s layout is informal and picturesque, the layout of Whiteley Village is as formal and symmetrical as that of an ideal Renaissance town’.

Miss Eliza Palmer was the first official resident, moving into West Avenue in 1917. Various service buildings; a village hall, shop, communal kitchen and other houses for staff accommodation were also built by 1918, and the site of the Church of St Mark, was consecrated. The wider village was largely completed during the inter-war period, but expansion continued throughout the C20. The site is still actively managed for the benefit of its resident pensioners.

Whiteley House and Hospital was designed by Sir Aston Webb around 1921, to provide care for infirm pensioners. The facility soon proved to be inadequate and it was substantially enlarged by Webb in 1925. The front range was extended to either side, including cross wings, with that to the southern end, having pavilions and a two-storey verandah. Also added at this time was a flat-roofed rectangular extension to the rear of the hospital, providing more ward space. Around 1930, Maurice Webb added further ward rooms and a nurses' block, with connecting walkway to the north-east.

Sir Aston Webb was a prolific and influential architect, responsible for such iconic buildings as the balcony front of Buckingham Palace, Admiralty Arch and the Cromwell Road elevation of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Maurice Webb (1880-1939), joined his fathers' practice and is also well represented on the List, including colleges for Cambridge University and the Kingston Guildhall.

Around 1960 the connection to the nurses' block was raised to three storeys. A new dormitory block of 1967, by Ley Colbeck & Partners, was built behind the hospital and connected by a single-storey walkway. The dormitory block originally had a flat roof, but this was replaced with a pitched roof.

A plaque at the main entrance of the hospital, records the re-opening in 1996 after a major refurbishment. A number of late-C20 fixtures and fittings have been introduced to the ward rooms and partitioning added to create more smaller rooms and add bathroom facilities. The upper verandah has been infilled with uPVC windows.

Reasons for Listing

Whiteley House and Hospital, a former rest home for the Whiteley Homes Trust, by Sir Aston Webb, of 1921, extended by Webb around 1925 to provide wards and by Maurice Webb around 1930 to create further hospital wards and a nurses' block with connecting walkway to the north-east, is listed for the following principal reasons.

Architectural interest:

* as a characterful and varied composition by the distinguished architectural practice of Sir Aston Webb, combining Arts & Crafts with classical detailing, distinctive brick treatment and elegant chimney stacks. The 1930s nurses block is sympathetic in character.

Historical interest:

* as an important and architecturally distinctive building within the planned, model retirement village named after its founder, William Whiteley, an example of philanthropic provision of facilities for those on low incomes established across England in the C19 and C20.

Group value:

* as one of the key buildings in the planned retirement village where there are a number of listed buildings including the adjacent, Grade II-listed, Church of St Mark, the Chaplaincy and the cottages and street lamps on North Avenue and Octagon Road.

External Links

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