St Mary's Hospital

Detached twenty-one-bay two-storey hospital, built c.1950, with recessed two-storey blocks to east, projecting canopy to north, single-storey section to south and extensions to south. Flat lead-covered roof with projecting eaves, red brick chimneystacks and cast-iron downpipes. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond. Square-headed window openings with concrete lintels and sills and uPVC windows. First floor of east and west blocks formed with uPVC windows. Concrete canopy supported on square-profile piers over square-headed door opening with uPVC double-leaf door having sidelights and overlights. Located in south-eastern corner of complex, alongside entrance gates and forming south side of quadrangle.

St Mary’s Hospital was originally conceived as a fever hospital and though designs were drawn up in 1938 by TJ Cullen, with assistance from JF McMullen Jr., the complex was not completed until 1952. Occupying an elevated site on what was then the edge of the city, the complex is indicative of contemporary hospital architecture, taking the form of a group of low-level buildings in a large open space. The use of recessed and projecting elements to the facades serves to enliven an otherwise functionally driven design, while the use of red brick adds colour. The hospital’s significance in the city was cemented during the polio epidemic of 1956, which is commemorated in a recently unveiled memorial plaque in the grounds. The complex continues to serve as a hospital.