St Mary's Hospital

Group of detached four multiple-bay single-storey hospital wards, built c.1950, with three-bay projecting entrance blocks to east and recessed half-glazed single-bays to north and south. Flat lead-covered roof with projecting eaves and cast-iron downpipes. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond. Square-headed window openings with concrete lintels and sills and metal pivoted windows. Some uPVC and aluminium windows. Some window openings blocked. Concrete canopy projecting over square-headed door opening set in splayed recess with replacement timber and uPVC double-leaf doors having overlights. Area to rear (west) of each building with low plinth wall. Buildings are orientated east-west and set parallel to each other towards western end of complex.

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.