St Mary's Hospital

Detached fifteen-bay two-storey administration block, built c.1950, with four-bay single-storey wrap-around blocks to east and west, three-bay three-storey block to north and canopy to south. Flat lead-covered roof with projecting eaves, red brick chimneystacks and cast-iron downpipes. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond with limestone continuous sill course to ground floor. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills and surrounds to ground floor, concrete lintels and sills to first floor and metal casement windows. uPVC windows to some openings. Concrete canopy supported on square-profile piers over square-headed door opening with carved limestone surround to timber panelled double-leaf door having overlight. Limestone steps to door. Located in north-eastern corner of complex, forming north 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.