KING EDWARD VII BUILDINGS

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Detached symmetrical multi-bay three-storey over basement red brick hospital building, dated 1914, with copper dome and entrance portico. Quadrangular on plan with an entrance portico to the east elevation and a central double-height Dining Hall structure to the centre. Located on a corner site to the northwest of the Royal Victoria Hospital complex enclosed by railings to Grosvenor Road to the north and Falls Road to the west.

Pitched natural slate roofs with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles, lead valleys and moulded cast-iron guttering supported on dentilated sandstone eaves course with cast-iron downpipes. Glazed sections to the apex of the south wing. Copper clad dome to the ridge of the north elevation with octagonal moulded copper cornice on raised band decorated with lion-head motif at regular spacings to base and surmounted by a copper crown with miniature lion on top. Red brick walling laid in English garden wall bond with ashlar sandstone dressings. Segmental-arched window openings formed in gauged brick with sandstone keystones and sills, set in slightly advanced brick surrounds having largely original single-pane timber sash windows with slender ogee horns and timber casement windows to the ground floor.

Symmetrical north elevation has a central breakfront surmounted by a dentilated open-base segmental pediment filled with stone carving depicting a royal coat of arms flanked by heraldic beasts. Tripartite segmental arched window openings to the first floor, and round arched to the second floor, with each having ashlar sandstone surrounds, projecting keystones and continuous moulded sill courses. Single segmental arched window opening to the ground floor with sandstone surround rising to pedimented head and moulded hood. The central breakfront is flanked by five bays and further advanced gabled end bays. Windows to recessed bays are generally segmental arched with 1/1 panes to original sliding sash windows, raised brick surround and plain sandstone keystones. Ground floor windows are wider, with replacement side hung vertical casements and top hung overlights. Advanced gabled end bays framed by full-height sandstone banded red brick clasping pillasters with tripartite window openings having plain sandstone surrounds. Tripartite doorcase to the ground floor of the east end gable with double-leaf timber panelled doors and overlight flanked by replacement top-hung casement windows within segmental arched openings all set in a sandstone surround with keystones opening onto bitmac area via three concrete steps.

Symmetrical east elevation with a pedimented entrance breakfront abutted by tripartite sandstone portico and pair of advanced gabled end bays. Intended as the principal elevation, it is now largely obscured by the late twentieth-century building to the east. The entrance bay is three windows wide, each flanked by banded sandstone pillasters rising from the portico and supporting a full dentilated pediment. The pediment houses a clock face with Roman numerals flanked by large scrolled brackets and surmounted by a diminutive broken pediment. The inner two pillasters are surmounted by a sandstone frieze with raised carved lettering stating; ‘KING EDWARD VII / MEMORIAL / 1914’, and topped by a further dentilated cornice. The portico rises from basement level constructed in rock-faced rusticated sandstone, with tooled edges to the ground floor, supporting a plain entablature with corbelled cornice topped by an arcaded sandstone balustrade. The portico has replacement timber windows and fixed plain glazing to the cheeks. The gabled end bays have a single window to each floor, detailed as per north elevation. Adjacent to the portico (north cheek) a window opening has been converted into the principal entrance with a timber glazed door.

Symmetrical south elevation has three advanced gabled bays, all constructed in red brick with sandstone sills and keystones, otherwise detailed as per north elevation.

Symmetrical west elevation is seven windows wide with advanced gabled end bays, detailed as per north elevation, apart from the central and left windows of the southern advanced bay which have been infilled.

To the centre of the quadrangular plan is a double-height gable-ended red brick enclosure with corrugated metal duo pitched roof that comprses the Dining Hall (G02). This roof does not match the profile of the ceiling inside. At second floor level is a profiled metal clad cantilevered structure supported on metal brackets running along the east, south and west elevations with uPVC casement windows. Below this walkway, original timber sliding sash windows, with 1/1 panes, are spaced at regular intervals.

Roof Natural slate
RWG Cast-iron
Walling Red brick with sandstone dressings
Windows Timber sash / timber casement

Setting

Located on a prominent NW corner site of the Royal Victoria Hospital complex enclosed to Grosvenor Road by tall red brick wall with stone coping and enclosed to the Falls Road by replacement steel railings. The former principal elevation to the east is largely obscured by a late twentieth-century building to the east.

Historical information

In the course of the nineteenth century Belfast expanded at a phenomenal rate. In 1800 its population stood at around 20,000. By 1841 it had reached 70,000 and in 1871 it had topped 120,000, while in 1911 it was 385,000, by some way the largest urban population in Ireland. As Belfast’s population rose, there was increasing pressure on its medical facilities, especially the Belfast Royal Hospital in Frederick Street. By the end of the 1800s it was clear that a new hospital was needed for Belfast.

The Royal Victoria Hospital was built at the junction of the Grosvenor and Falls Roads and was designed by William Henman of Henman & Cooper who had previously been responsible for the Birmingham General Hospital. McLaughlin & Harvey won the contract to build the new hospital in September 1900. The foundation stone was laid early in 1901 and the new hospital was officially opened on 27 July 1903 by Edward VII and Queen Alexandra on their trip to Belfast during visit to Ireland.

Following the death of Edward VII in 1910 the hospital’s Board of Management immediately decided to erect a building of three storeys (over a basement), with a prominently positioned clock, in his memory. The architects appointed were Young & Mackenzie and the contractor was McLaughlin & Harvey. The cost was £20,000. A bronze bust of Edward VII by Bruce Joy was provided by Sir William Crawford.

The building work did not start properly until 1913 and it because of the war its completion was delayed until 1915. The laboratories were not in use until after the war had ended. Lord Wimborne, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, opened the building on 19 May 1915.

It was intended that the building would provide accommodation for all of the hospital facilities not adequately provided for in the original edifice of 1903. The lower floors would serve as Dr Thomas Houston’s Department of Vaccine Therapy and Haematology. The Electrical (x-ray) Department under Dr John Rankin would also be housed in this area. The two upper floors provided additional accommodation for nurses and ward maids.

In 1925 the eye, ear, nose and throat outpatient clinics moved into the building. The following year the top floor became the Dental Department. The nurses had moved by this time into the new Musgrave Wing. The building was also used to store patient case records. By the early 1950s it accommodated the x-ray and Radium Therapy out-patients departments, the Dermatological outpatients, the Opthalmic outpatients and the Dental Department. There was also a ‘pleasant panelled hall’ for hospital meetings and entertainments.

In 1975 the School of Radiography moved out of the King Edward Building into new purpose-built accommodation. The King Edward Building now accommodates the Coordinating Centre of the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network.

References

Maps

Ordnance Survey 1:1,250 scale map, County Antrim sheet 60.12 (covering Falls Road area of Belfast), 1931 – reproduced by Alan Godfrey Maps (Gateshead, 1989)

Published sources

Robert Marshall, Fifty years on the Grosvenor Road: an account of the rise and progress of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast (Belfast, 1953)
Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (Belfast, 1987)
R. S. J. Clarke, The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast: a history, 1797-1997 (Belfast, 1997)

Online sources

Dictionary of Irish Architects: www.dia.ie – which
references Irish Builder, 16 August, 8 November 1913; 3 July 1915.

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
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
U. Historic Associations
V. Authorship
X. Local Interest
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance

Evaluation

Detached symmetrical multi-bay three-storey over basement red brick Edwardian hospital building, dated 1914, with impressive copper clad dome and sandstone entrance portico, banded pilasters and pedimented breakfront designed by Young and Mackenzie. Quadrangular on plan facing north with the original entrance to the east and a central double-height dining hall structure to the centre. An imposing purpose-built hospital building which retains much of its external detailing. Originally commissioned for Vaccine Therapy, Haematology and the X-Ray Departments, with the upper floors providing accomodation for nurses, it later also became the home of outpatients for eye, ears, nose and throat and then the Dental Department before conversion to its current use as research accommodation. It forms part of a wider collection of buildings from the turn of last century that constitute the Royal Victoria Hospital complex (HB26/32/001A-L) and retains some Art Nouveau details of interest inside. Despite the principal elevation being largely obscured, the King Edward Memorial Building dominates the junction of the Falls Road and Grosvenor Road and largely defines the civic character of this prominent corner site. Built to serve the rapidly expanding population in Belfast following the industrial expansion of the city, the Royal Victoria Hospital, since its inception in the early 1900's has been and still is an important institution in terms of social and historical significance. The red brick walling and pillars that define the boundaries to the Grosvernor Road frontage (HB26/32/001F) enhance the character of the King Edward Memorial Building.