The Villa

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey building with hipped roofs and roughcast rendered walls. Main entrance faces south,

South elevation is symmetrical with a recessed central block five windows wide, flanked by projecting end blocks 2 windows wide. Roofs of Bangor blue slates in regular courses; terracotta ridge tiles to hips. Red brick chimneys with red pots. Oversailing eaves; moulded cast iron gutter with cast iron hoppers and downpipes.
Walls of roughcast render on a painted brick plinth with painted brick moulding, and moulded brick stringcourse at first floor level, and stepped brick cornice, all painted. Windows are rectangular aluminium replacement fixed lights with narrow horizontal opening vents, set in painted moulded brick surrounds with projecting cills.
Central doorway is elliptically arched in a continuous painted moulded brick surround, containing a pair of original glazed and panelled doors with glazed and panelled sidelights and plain arched fanlight.
Ground floor of recessed central block enclosed by an open fronted verandah, but glazed lean-to roof now missing from left-hand half of elevation. Verandah floored with patterned encaustic tiles; front is formed by an arcade of cast iron circular columns inscribed 'David King and Sons, Glasgow', with curvilinear spandrels to the top; scrolling wrought iron railings run between the columns. PVC gutter and downpipe to verandah.

East and west elevations are four windows wide, of similar character to entrance front. Modern flush timber door to east elevation approached by a modern concrete ramp with tubular steel railings.

Rear elevation of similar character to other elevations except there are small projecting single storey hipped roof return blocks at each side of a central single storey flat-roofed projection.
At the rear of the end blocks are large modern steel fire escape stairways.

SETTING: The building stands to the south-east of the main hospital building at Holywell, within the hospital grounds. It enjoys a distant view over the countryside to the south, and can be seen from the main driveway of the hospital. Tarmac paths to each side and a tarmac area to the front; grassy lawns beyond paths.

Historical information

Built 1906-7 to provide extra ward accommodation for the County Antrim Lunatic Asylum at Holywell; changed from a ward to the Occupational Therapy Department in 1990. It originally contained dayrooms on the ground floor, and dormitories upstairs, providing accommodation for 75 male patients of the chronic and working class.

References – Secondary Sources
1. M. Mulholland, To Comfort Always: A History of Holywell Hospital 1898-1998 (Ballymena, 1998), pp 15, 93.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

This is an early 20th century building which has lost a number of its original features.