Musgrave Wing, East and West Wings

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Attached symmetrical multi-bay four-storey over basement red brick and sandstone purpose-built hospital, built c.1903, to the designs of Henman & Cooper (East & West Wings), extended to N c.1925 (Musgrave Wing). U-shaped on plan facing north and set back slightly from Grosvenor Road with a central carriage arch opening into an enclosed courtyard with the original entrance front to the hospital located at the opposite side of the courtyard (HB26/32/001H). Part of a wider complex of buildings on an extensive site including the Statue of Queen Victoria HB26/32/001C) and the King Edward VII Memorial Building (HB26/32/001D) further west.

Pitched natural slate roofs with lead roll-top ridges and valleys to the east and west wings and lead-clad pedimented timber dormer windows. Mansard type lead-lined roof to the Musgrave Wing (N) with steep natural slate sloped sides and masonry dormer windows. Some profiled red brick chimney stacks throughout. Moulded cast-iron guttering supported on dentilled sandstone fascia and cast-iron downpipes. Red brick walling laid in Flemish bond with sandstone dressings (East & West Wings), Portland limestone dressings to the Musgrave Wing. Largely square-headed windows within segmental-arched openings formed in soldier coursed brick with profiled bricks set within reveal to form transom and blind fanlight over. Sandstone dressings and sills, double hung timber sash windows with ogee horns.

Symmetrical north front elevation is nineteen bays wide comprising; slightly advanced five-storey gabled sections to either end and a central bell gabled breakfront above the entrance which is three bays wide with a broken-apex pediment with mutules and a tripartite arch comprising a carriage entrance in the middle of two pedestrian passageways. Portland limestone window dressings comprise; architrave surrounds and moulded sills to all windows with a plain entablature to the attic storey, a projecting cornice over the third floor windows. Recessed Portland limestone surround encompasses second and third floors with apron panels and decorative iron balconettes to the second floor supported on large brackets. The entrance arch, also executed in Portland limestone comprises; a shallow segmental arch supported by engage Ionic columns, that separate the carriage entrance from pedestrian entrances with the latter flanked by panelled pilasters which rise to all a full entablature. This entrance frames the view to Queen Victoria's statue in the courtyard beyond and is surmounted by with a central swan-neck open-top (accommodating central first floor window) and open-base pediment filled with elaborate swaged carvings and cartouche. Replacement steel gates throughout. The soffit to the carriage arch has stone coffers rising from a traverse stone entablature supported on paired Ionic columns. Gabled breakfronts to either end of the N Elevation have two-storey over basement canted bay windows. The breakfronts are embellished with clasping pilasters to the upper three floors formed in brick with sandstone banding and Ionic capitals; rusticated sandstone ashlar quoins to the lower levels. Continuous sandstone sill course to the ground floor with blocking course below, interrupted by Gibbsian type sandstone heads and keystones to the basement windows. Basement enclosed by original iron railings set on brick plinth wall with Portland limestone coping.

The internal south elevation to the Musgrave Wing is eleven windows wide with the entrance bay slightly advanced. The fourth floor is surmounted by a Portland limestone cornice and blocking course with a small open-based pediment to the central window filled with a carving depicting a lion standing on a crown. Generally the detailing to the remainder of the entrance bay reflects that of the front elevation including the carriage arch treatment with the pediment filled with a further cartouche and carved banner inscribed; ‘MUSGRAVE MEMORIAL’. To either end is a splayed corner bay built in ashlar sandstone, connecting to the east and west wings and having steel casement windows and a square-headed door opening with ashlar sandstone doorcase surmounted by an open-based segmental arched pediment. Replacement timber panelled doors with latticed fanlights. These doors open onto walkways (arcaded over the basement) that are enclosed to the basement well by iron railings.

The East Wing is a three-storey over basement block with attic storey, thirteen bays wide with three four-storey over basement advanced gabled projections. Less formal in composition, the east elevation has some randomly-placed windows and blind bays to the recessed sections and largely paired windows to the gabled projections. The central gable has a shallow segmental-headed recess to the upper three floors housing the paired windows with sandstone keystones, sills and single-pane timber sash windows with margin lights, all surmounted by a segmental arched hood cornice.

The south gable to the east wing is three bays wide with paired windows to the centre and abutted by the original hospital corridor to the lower two levels (HB26/32/001H).

The west elevation to the east wing is twelve bays wide, detailed as per east elevation, with the central gable abutted by a single-storey over basement canted bay window surmounted by a sandstone balustrade.

The composition and detailing of the West Wing is as per East Wing.

Roof : Natural slate / lead-lined
RWG: Cast-iron
Walling: Redbrick with sandstone and Portland limestone dressings
Windows: Timber sash, generally double hung.

Setting

Located on an extensive site bound by Grosvenor Road to the north, The Westlink to the south and Falls Road to the west. Set back slightly from Grosvenor Road with a bitmac front area enclosed by red brick perimeter walling, two former gate lodges (HB26/32/001F) and iron gates. The internal courtyard has a central bitmac paved area with a large bronze statue of Queen Victoria to the centre (HB26/32/001G) and basement wells to either side (east and west) enclosed by original iron railings on stone copings and with stone pillars. The Musgrave basement area is enclosed by red brick retaining walls while the east and west wings are enclosed by rusticated rock-faced red sandstone retaining walls.

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.

In 1925 a new north wing was added which joined the original east and west wings on the front of the hospital to form a quadrangle. This wing was named the Musgrave Wing after Henry Musgrave (d. 1922) of Musgrave & Co., engineers and ironfounders. In 1923 the hospital had received a bequest of £50,000 from his estate. In addition to providing accommodation for the nurses from the King Edward Building, the Musgrave Wing contained a billiard room (the billiard table was a gift from Lord Pirrie) for the doctors and a ‘boudoir’ for the female doctors. By the 1950s the billiard room was being used as an office. According to Larmour, Young and Mackensie were responsible for the design of the Musgrave wing, although this is not verified in the Dictionary of Irish Architects.

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

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Attached symmetrical multi-bay four-storey over basement red brick and sandstone hospital, built c.1900, to the designs of Henman & Cooper (East & West Wings) to serve the growing population of Belfast that had increased at a phenomenal rate in the 19th century in tandem with the industrial expansion of the city. The hospital was later extended to the North c.1925 (Musgrave Wing) to form a u-shaped plan that, together with the original hospital entrance (HB26/32/001H), create an enclosed courtyard. Built as the administrative offices to the hospital, the East and West wings exhibit an array of early twentieth-century details in common with The Black and White Hall (HB26/32/001H). The design of the Musgrave Wing is in keeping with and stitches seamlessly between these earlier structures with few discernible differences, except for the mansard roof and bell gable above the central bay. This bay also features a Baroque Revival swan-top pediment at entrance level, supported on Ionic columns that frame the view of Queen Victoria's statue (HB26/32/001G) via a segmental arched carriageway. The interior of this hospital is functional and robust with some remaining decoration and elegant stairwells. The impressive facades, together with the perimeter walls and railings, stand as a prominent landmark on the Grosvenor Road and together with nearby structures within the hospital grounds, constitute a significant collection of civic buildings.