Description

Ebenezer Simpson of Stirling, architect; B Reynolds, building contractor. Begun 1901, officially opened 1904. 2-storey, 3-bay, rectangular-plan block with flanking single storey, 2-bay wings creating U-plan hospital building (former administrative block). Canted bay windows to ground floor principal elevation; central pediment; moulded string course between storeys continues as cornice to door and bay windows. Snecked rock-faced sandstone; stop chamfered ashlar window surrounds; ashlar margins to doors and long and short quoins; slightly advanced plinth to S.

S (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: symmetrical elevation. Decorative doorpiece to central door; moulded and rusticated architrave; keystone. 'ERECTED AD 1903' carved within frieze with stylised floral motif. Single windows flank door. Canted bay windows to outer bays; bipartite window to centre; recessed plaque above. Corniced bipartite 1st floor window centred above door with frieze; flanking single windows close to eaves. Corniced pediment to centre, raised above roofline; 'THE STIRLING COMBINATION HOSPITAL' carved below pediment. Coats of arms of Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Dunblane, Doune and Callander carved within tympanum; flanking ball finials. Wings set back to left and right; 2 windows to each wing. Later stone ramp and steps with cast-iron railings lead up to entrance.

W ELEVATION: central bipartite 1st floor window to main block. 3 windows to wing.

N ELEVATION: advanced off-centre piended porch (partially infilled); door and window; bipartite windows to outer bays. 2 1st floor windows to left; 3 to right (smaller central window). Advanced flanking wings; plain elevation to right with outshot to E; 2 doors in left return. Left wing; 2 windows in N elevation; window and door in right return.

E ELEVATION: central 1st floor window to main block. Advanced wing; single window to left; 2 windows to right; central bipartite window.

2-leaf timber panelled entrance door; fanlight. Plate glass in timber sash and case windows. Piended grey slate roofs; clay ridge and hip tiles; overhanging eaves. Corniced ashlar stack with string course rising from pediment; central wallhead stack to N; 2 circular clay cans to each stack.

INTERIOR: not seen, 2002.

BOUNDARY WALL AND GATEPIERS: snecked rock-faced wall with flat coping stones runs along Drip Road to enclose Kildean Hospital site. Lower wall to E with plain cast-iron railings; taller stone wall without railings to W. Pair of 2 corniced and banded entrance piers with chamfered base to E surmounted by swept stones with ball finials. Similar terminating pier to W (finial missing).

Statement of Interest

Items included in the List are: Kildean Day Hospital, Boundary Wall, Railings and Gatepiers fronting Drip Road. Kildean Hospital was built as an infectious diseases hospital at a time when an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in Glasgow and Smallpox in Stirling were reported, hence its once relatively rural and isolated location some distance from Stirling and close to the River Forth. Infectious diseases hospitals were

built on a wide scale after the 1897 Public Health (Scotland) Act and the horizontal pavilion plan, as seen here, was a common design for late 19th/early 20th century hospitals. So called the Stirling Combination Hospital because it was built by and for the people of the 5 combined burghs (see S elevation) at a cost of ?14,000-?15,000. The 4 acre site incorporated an administrative block (now Kildean Day Hospital), gate lodge (demolished), 2 pavilions and a laundry block (still remaining). The W pavilion was used for enteric fever patients, whilst the E pavilion was for scarlet fever patients. The laundry block to the N housed the furnace, mortuary and stables and is currently not in use (2002). Stirling Town Council architectural drawings dated 31.10.1902 (Ref SP/R10/39:2&3) show ground floor and 1st floor plans of the administrative block. The ground floor contained a dining room, sitting room, kitchen, dispensary and stores to the main block with 3 servants bedrooms in the W wing and scullery and food stores in the E wing. The 1st floor had 6 bedrooms for the nurses and matron. The buildings (excluding the laundry block) continue to be used

for health care as a psychiatric health unit with a geriatric ward (2002). The Kildean Day Hospital incorporates a villa design and with its boundary wall it adds to the streetscape of Drip Road. The plain pavilions and laundry block to the rear have not been listed.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77777916

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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