The Perimeter Wall, Gates and Lodges (along Grosvenor Road)

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Red brick walling to Royal Victoria Hospital fronting on Grosvenor Road dating from 1901-1903 to designs of William Henman of Henman & Cooper and constructed by McLaughlin & Harvey. Four gateways dating from different periods of the development of the hospital and two gate lodges dating from 1901-1903 are also included in the record.

Walling and Gateways
Red brick walling laid to a mixture of stretcher bond and English-garden bond.

Perimeter Wall:
Red brick walling laid to a mixture of stretcher and English bond with chamfered plinth course and topped by corbelled stone coping. Square section boundary piers at regular intervals with stone banding and corbelled coping stone. The wall steps up from E to W following the inclination of Grosvenor Road. Parts of the walling are more decorated incorporating mouldings and some parts consist of dwarf walls with saddle-back coping stones topped by painted metal railings. Remains of arched openings are visible to different parts of the walling, all now infilled with brick.

A square section red brick boundary pier topped by stone copping with ball finials with scrolls links the historic walling with the modern walling and railings to the W end of Grosvenor Road and on to Falls Road.

Gate 1:
Gate 1 possibly dating from 1910, is located in front of the King Edward VII memorial buildings (listed under HB26.32.001 D).
Two square section piers in red brick topped by stone copping with ball finials and diagonal scrolls supporting painted metal gates with square section railings, top and bottom rail, ball railing heads and standards topped with ball finials. Inside jambs of gate posts have brick buttresses and cast iron coach bollard.

Gate 2:
Gate 2 consists of a pedestrian gate and a double gate forming the vehicular entrance to the W of the W gate lodge.
Pedestrian entrance is through an archway to the W end of the W lodge. Segmental headed archway set within brick wall with moulded coping stone, sandstone banding and flanked by moulded stone corbels. Painted metal gate to opening with square section railings and ball railing heads.
The double gate immediately to W is attached to the W wall of the lodge and a square section gate pier with stone banding and corbelled capping stone. The painted metal gate is identical to gateway 1.

Third gateway:
The third gateway, originally the ‘principal entrance’, dating from 1901-1903, is located between the two gate lodges in front of the Musgrave Wing (listed under HB26.32.001 K) with access beyond directly to the front of the original Hospital (listed under HB26.32.001 H).
Two square section piers in red brick with stone banding and topped by stone capping with ball finials and diagonal scrolls support a wide metal gate screen. Square section railings with decorated top and bottom rail, fleur-de-lys railing heads. Pedestrian gates to each side supported on square section metal posts with head post returning to wall and having applied decoration.

Fourth Gateway:
Modern wide painted metal gate screen close to the E end of the walling on Grosvenor Road. Double gates and smaller pedestrian gate to W with square section railings, ball railing heads and standards topped by ball finials. The name of the hospital is incorporated with metal letters in the gates.

Gate Lodges
Two single storey flat roofed red brick gate lodges, dating from 1901-1903 to designs of William Henman of Henman & Cooper and constructed by McLaughlin & Harvey, are flanking the third gateway in front of the Musgrave Wing (listed under HB26.32.001 K).

E Gate Lodge:
Walling laid to English bond with stone banding. A dentilled stone cornice supports cast iron guttering discharging to circular cast iron downpipes. Raised red brick parapet topped with concrete flat roof. The openings to Grosvenor Road have been filled (possibly in 1995) but retain their relieving arches and moulded stone cills. Two rectangular plan chimney stacks to E lodge with corbelled coping and red clay chimney pots.

The E gate lodge has square plan. A segmental arch door opening to S elevation has been partly infilled with brick panel and has a square-headed modern flush door opening onto a stone step. Square plan pilaster red brick to SW corner with stone banding and panelled and corbelled coping stone. The W elevation has a narrower segmental arch door opening with a square-headed modern flush timber door with fanlight. To the S of the door remains of a segmental headed window opening are now part of a smaller square headed opening with a timber casement window and concrete cill.

W gate Lodge:
The W gate lodge consists of a square plan form lodge abutted by a slightly higher, rectangular plan form lodge on to E. Square plan pilaster red brick to SE corner with stone banding and panelled and corbelled coping stone. Segmental arch door opening to E elevation with a modern flush timber door with fanlight. To the N of the door is a segmental headed window opening with a modern timber casement window and concrete cill. The S elevation has two segmental headed windows with moulded stone cills and timber casement windows to E part. The seven-bay W part of the S elevation has a segmental arch opening to E end (leading to the pedestrian entrance of the fourth gateway) and segmental headed window openings with stone keystones to the remaining bays. Modern flat-roofed red-brick porch to central bay. The window openings to the two central bays are infilled, timber casement windows to the remaining bays.

Two modern single storey flat roofed red-brick buildings to E of the gate lodges and a modern flat roofed single storey gate lodge to the W of the fourth gateway, all of little interest.

Setting:
The perimeter wall on Grosvenor Road with its gateways and gate lodges is one of the many listed records in the site including King Edward VII Buildings (HB26.32.001 D), the statue of Queen Victoria (HB26.32.001 G), the front of the Original Hospital (HB26.32.001 H), Mullhouse works (HB26.32.002), Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (HB26.32.001 I), Microbiology building (HB26.32.001 J), the Musgrave Wing (HB26.32.001 K) and the Hospital Building (HB26.32.001 L).

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 built at the junction of the Grosvenor and Falls Roads 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.

A plan of the ground floor of the new hospital by Henman and Cooper shows a porter’s lodge at the ‘principal entrance’ to the hospital on the Grosvenor Road. The same plan shows a ‘coal entrance’ to the left of the ‘principal entrance’. To the right of the ‘principal entrance’ was another entrance which provided access to the proposed ‘isolation buildings’ and other facilities.

A photograph in Clarke (p. 77), taken around 1905, shows the original front of the hospital facing on to Grosvenor Road. The first thing to note is that the original boundary wall, at least that part visible in the photograph, was only around 8-10 brick courses high and was topped by metal railings between the brick piers.

The porter’s lodge is shown in this photograph as comprising rooms on either wide of a round-headed covered entrance way, the arch supported on columns. A similar concept, though different design, may be seen in the gate lodge to Friar’s Bush Cemetery. The design of the porter’s lodge was in keeping with the rest of the hospital and it was positioned directly in line with the main entrance to the hospital building with its statue of Queen Victoria over the doorway.

The lodge is first shown on the 1923 Ordnance Survey map (reproduced in Clarke, p. 88). This map suggests that the area immediately behind the boundary wall was planted with trees. The map also shows that there was a further entrance to the hospital off the Grosvenor Road opposite to the King Edward Building completed in 1915.

The 1937 Ordnance Survey map (reproduced in Clarke, p. 90) seems to indicate that the archway had been taken down by this time. The porter’s lodge still remained and adjoining it on the west side was longer rectangular building. Evidence for this latter building can still be seen in the boundary wall facing on to Grosvenor Road where a bricked-up doorway and several bricked-up windows are visible. Another doorway to this building remains unblocked and has a metal gate.

What was the ‘principal entrance’ now looks substantially different from its original construction. The entrance piers now terminate in ball finials. Similar finals top the gate piers at the entrance in front of the King Edward Building. The sections at either end of the wall facing Grosvenor Road are modern.

The HB Record indicates that in 1995 there was a proposal to increase the height of the boundary wall by four courses using matching salvaged bricks and replacing sandstone coping as well as widen the entrance gates at the King Edward Building, and fill other gate openings with brick panel to match existing panels In 1999 there were further proposals to restore the existing brick wall and gates, and remove any modern additions, such as recent brickwork. In 2000 this programme of restoration was in progress. In April 2000, in response to a question raised in the House of Commons on the costs of recent works at the hospital, the answer given was that £79,337 would be spent on restoring the existing listed boundary wall.

References

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland
Ordnance Survey map, 1:1056 scale, 1905 – OS/8/30/5/66

Northern Ireland Environment Agency
First Survey record – HB/26/32/001F
HB Records – HB/26/32/001F

Published sources
R. S. J. Clarke, The Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast: a history, 1797-1997 (Belfast, 1997)
J. A. K. Dean, The Gate Lodges of Ulster: a Gazetteer (Belfast, 1994)

Online sources
House of Commons Debates, 6 April 2000, vol. 347 c568W 568W: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/2000/apr/06/royal-victoria-hospital-belfast

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
H-. Alterations detracting from building
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Red brick walling to Royal Victoria Hospital fronting on Grosvenor Road dating from 1901-1903 to designs of William Henman of Henman & Cooper and constructed by McLaughlin & Harvey. Four gateways dating from different periods of the development of the hospital and two gate lodges dating from 1901-1903 are also included in the composition. Although changed from its original state, the changes to the walling demonstrate the development and expansion of the Hospital in different periods. The structures make a significant contribution to the setting of, and have group value with the listed buildings and structures of the Royal Victoria Hospital complex. (HB26.32.001 G&H; HB26.32.002; HB26.32.005;HB26.32.007)