Cowan Heron Hospital & Gates

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey multi-bay Arts-and-Craft style former cottage hospital, now sheltered housing, built in c.1900 to the designs of Peter Chalmers Cowan; irregular plan form flanked by T-shaped single storey wings; adjoining two-storey block to the rear; further adjoining single storey block to the south east. Located adjacent to the junction between Dromara Road and Circular Road, southeast of the town of Dromore.

Pitched and hipped rosemary tiled roof with crested terracotta ridge tiles; moulded finials; exposed shaped rafter tails; moulded timber barge boards; incised red brick chimneystack with corbelled upper course and moulded terracotta string-courses; moulded terracotta pots; cast-iron ogee moulded rainwater goods; louvered square-headed vent dormers with matching materials and detailing. Painted roughcast rendered walling; projected squared uncoursed masonry plinth to cill level; hammer-dressed long-and-short quoins with chisel draughted margins. Applied neo-Tudor timber framing to gable apexes. Variety of timber sliding sash and casement windows; generally composite irregular timber 6/1 sliding sash windows with horns with 3-paned casement over; irregular long-and-short sandstone surrounds with sandstone lintel with mould stops; chamfered sandstone continuous cill. Timber front door; two etched glazed upper panels; two raised-and-fielded lower panels with bolection mouldings; single-pane etched side lights with panelled aprons; moulded timber frame rising to dentilled cornice; tripartite rolled-glass overlight.

The principal elevation of the central block faces north and is asymmetrically arranged. Ashlar sandstone Tudor-arched porch to ground floor left; moulded surrounds; label moulding with foliated stops; foliated carved spandrels; carved frieze reading “COMFORT YE MY PEOPLE SAITH YOUR GOD”; all surmounted by a moulded stepped pediment embracing a carved heron with the lettering “AVEC MA VIE” “(With my life)” below; geometric terracotta tiled flooring. Above is a moulded sandstone panel embracing a marble plaque reading “HERON’S COTTAGE HOSPITAL ERECTED BY Wm COWEN HERON 1898”. Ground floor right comprises two 6/1 timber sliding sash window; tripartite sliding sash window to first floor embraced by Tudor-style timber framing rising to gable.

The east elevation is asymmetrically arranged; largely abutted at ground floor by single-storey east wing. Gabled right bay with single first floor window; hipped projected left bay with variety of sash windows to first floor; replacement uPVC window to ground floor. The pitched roof single-storey wing matches central block details. The north elevation is four windows wide (diminished-in-scale right window) timber louvered dormer left of centre. No dress stone to south elevation; timber panelled door with 6 glazed panes and tripartite over light to the left; the east gable is further abutted by a pitched roof single-storey block added in the early 20th century; matching details; higher eaves and ridge levels; tripartite window to north gable; timber panelled door (no overlight) to the right cheek; the east elevation comprises two windows with a louvered vent dormer over; the rear gable is blank; no dress stone; abutted by a single-storey flat-roofed abutment with casement windows.

The rear elevation is symmetrically arranged; abutted by two-storey block. Timber sliding sash to first floor; replacement uPVC windows to ground floor. Central two-storey pitched roof corridor link adjoining the rear block; both cheeks comprising sliding sash first floor windows and ground floor door. The adjoining rear; no dress stone; variety of replacement uPVC windows throughout; gabled north elevation, chamfered corners at ground floor level; hipped south elevation.

Asymmetrically west elevation abutted by single-storey wing mirroring east elevation. Later added adjoining single-storey asymmetrically hipped-roof block to the right; sliding sash windows and timber panelled doors to the west elevation; replacement windows to the east; blank north and south.

A set of wrought-iron gates and railings, manufactured by Riddel & Co, Belfast, and associated piers installed c.1900, to the entrance of Cowan Heron Hospital (HB17/14/011A). Located at the north east of the site, adjacent to the later gate lodge (HB17/14/011B) at the junction between Dromara Road and Circular Road, south of the Dromore town.

Gated masonry piers with railings to the west terminated with pier; hedgerow to the right. Piers are pointed-faced sandstone with chiseled draught-margins; three blocks tall on projected plinth; surmounted by gabled cap on reverse ogee moulding. Wrought-iron gates with mid-rail; ornamented with lyre-motifs and twisted balustrades; top-rail surmounted by spear-finials with flanking scrolls. Railing with smooth rendered masonry plinth; details matching gates; cast footings to bottom-rail.

Setting:

Elevated site partially screened from public view by hedgerows bounding the north of the site. The entrance is via wrought-iron gates with masonry piers (refer to HB17/14/011D for details). Gate lodge adjacent to site entrance (refer to HB17/14/011B for details). Sweeping inclining driveway to the principal elevation flanked by large lawn with landscaped tress and planters. Modern ramp accessing entrance. Single-storey boiler house to the east. Grounds to the rear comprise of parking and a largely overgrown garden, beyond which is modern housing.

Roofing: Rosemary tile
Walling : Painted roughcast render
Windows: Timber sliding sash/casement/ uPVC replacement
RWG: Cast-iron

Historical information

The Cowan Heron Hospital, an Arts-and-Craft cottage hospital to the south of Dromore, was constructed between 1898 and 1900 to designs by Peter Chalmers Cowan (c. 1859-1930), an Engineer and county surveyor for Co. Down 1889-1899. Although the hospital is traditionally believed to have been designed by Henry William Edward Hobart (1858-1938), a local architect who also designed the hospital’s gate lodge in c. 1903 (HB17/14/011B) and the Ulster Bank in Church Street in 1920 (HB17/15/037), the Builder records that the Cowan Heron Hospital was designed by Peter Cowan. The builder contracted to undertake the design was a Mr. John Graham who was supervised by Hobart (The Builder, p. 621). The hospital was opened in 1900 and was first recorded on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1903) as a central block possessing two wings, extending to its west and east side, and a large two-storey rear return; the map captioned the site as the ‘Cowan Heron Cottage Hospital.’

The Annual Revisions record that the hospital was constructed on land that belonged to William Cowan Heron (c. 1820-1917) of Altafort (HB17/14/004), a local Justice of the Peace and businessman. The 1901 Ulster Town Directory for Dromore notes that Heron constructed the hospital at his own expense ‘for the benefit of the people of the town and neighbourhood.’ Heron was responsible for a number of improvements to the town of Dromore including supplying the town clock in 1891, situated in the cupola of the Town Hall (HB17/15/010), the rebuilding the schoolhouse and construction of a schoolmaster’s house in the townland of Ballyvicknacally, c. 1880 (HB17/14/003A+B).

Upon its completion in 1900 the Cowan Heron Hospital was valued at £75, a rate that was maintained until the end of the Annual Revisions in 1930, despite the construction of the gate lodge c. 1903 and mortuary c. 1915. Early photographs of the hospital record that when completed the building did not possess the north-west-facing extensions which abut the end of both the west and east wing. It is not certain when these extensions were erected; however the fourth edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1919-20) depicts the additions along with the single-storey rear return which was added during the same intervening period.

Crosbie records that the hospital was constructed at a cost of £7,000 which was entirely supplied by William Cowan Heron. At the time it was opened in 1900 the Cowan Heron Hospital was described as ‘one of the finest cottage hospitals in Great Britain’ and was immediately put to use in treating the ill and injured of the immediate area. The Ulster Town Directories noted that in 1901 the hospital cared for a number of British soldiers, recently returned from the Second Boer War (1899-1902), who occupied a large portion of the building. The increase in the demand on the hospital resulted in the addition of the two extensions to the west and east wing sometime between 1903 and 1919-20; it is likely that these additions were made prior to 1917 as Crosbie states William Cowan Heron continued to make, and meet the cost of, improvements and repairs to the hospital until his death in that year (Crosbie, p. 26; Ulster Town Directory 1901).

Heron is commemorated at the site with a plaque above the entrance to the hospital which records Heron as the patron, and notes the date of construction. Below the plaque is a representation of a Heron and the inscription ‘Avec Ma Vie’ (with my blood), whilst above the door is written a biblical quote from Isaiah: ‘Comfort ye my people, saith your God.’ Within the hospital are also located a number of portraits of Heron (Doloughan).

The current edition of the Ordnance Survey map records that a third return, extending from rear of the east wing of the hospital, had been constructed by c. 1970, but this was taken down at an unknown date, possibly at the time of its closure.

The Cowan Heron Hospital was listed in 1994, also the year of its closure; the hospital continued to operate until its closure, however in its final years it was solely used as a care home for the elderly (Doloughan). The former hospital has since been converted into apartments. In recent years attempts have been made to create a housing development at the site, however these attempts have been repeatedly blocked so as not to affect the setting of the building (Dromore Leader).

The gate lodge (HB17/14/011B) was not constructed until c. 1903 first appearing on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey maps in that year. It is not clear from the map whether the current entrance pillars and gate screen had been constructed by that time although it is likely that they date from the original construction of the hospital. Dean states that the entrance pillars were constructed in ‘big square rusticated red sandstone blocks with ‘pock-marked’ finish. Cappings have four sided pediments’ (Dean, p. 70). The entrance pillars were either designed by Peter Chalmers Cowan who designed the hospital, or more likely by Henry William Edward Hobart (1858-1938), a local architect who designed the adjoining gate lodge (Dictionary of Irish Architects). The gate screen was manufactured by Riddel & Co., an ironmongers and furnishing business that operated out of offices at Donegall Place in Belfast (Ulster Town Directory).

Field inspection of the site finds that the entrance pillars and gate screen have been maintained and may have been galvanised.

References

Primary Sources

1. PRONI OS/6/3/21/2 – Second Edition Ordnance Survey map 1859
2. PRONI OS/6/3/21/3 – Third Edition Ordnance Survey map 1903
3. PRONI OS/6/3/21/4 – Fourth Edition Ordnance Survey map 1919-1920
4. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10C – Annual Revisions 1892 - 1898
5. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10E – Annual Revisions 1899 - 1908
6. PRONI VAL/12/B/16/10F – Annual Revisions 1909 – 1930
7. Builder (Vol. 78, 23 Jun 1900)
8. Ulster Town Directory (1901)
9. Ordnance Survey Map – 202-8SW (c. 1970)
10. First Survey Record – HB17/12/028A (1994)
11. Dromore Leader (5 Aug 2010)
12. Ulster Town Directory (1880)
13. First Survey Record – HB17/12/028D (1994)

Secondary Sources

1. Cosbie, J. E. M., ‘A tour of Mid and South Down: 1910-35’ Belfast: Friar’s Bush, 1992.
2. Doloughan, A., ‘Cowan Heron Hospital – A gift to the people of Dromore’ Dromore: Dromore and District Local Historical Group, 1991.
3. Dean, J. A. K., ‘The gate lodges of Ulster: A gazetteer’ Belfast: Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 1994.

Online Resources

1. Dictionary of Irish Architects - http://www.dia.i.e.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity

Evaluation

A two-storey multi-bay Arts-and-Craft style former cottage hospital, now sheltered housing, built in c.1900 to the designs of Peter Chalmers Cowan. Its historic character has largely remained intact since the later additions in the early part of the twentieth century. No longer functioning in its original capacity, the internal layout and detailing have been compromised as well as its character unique to the role of a cottage hospital, although the general plan form survives. The loss of the mortuary (HB17/14/011C), sundial and sunroom detracts from its historic interest but the gate lodge (HB17/14/011B) survives with the gates and pillars and the building is of local interest, associated with a prominent local citizen, William Cowan Heron. It remains a good example of a type of building that is rare in the Province.

General comments

Previously recorded as HB17/12/028A