Reg No
50080085
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Swift's Hospital
Original Use
Garden structure misc
Date
1750 - 1790
Coordinates
313848, 233957
Date Recorded
15/06/2013
Date Updated
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Attached three-bay two-storey garden house, built c.1770, adjoining east boundary wall of hospital to Steevens's Lane. Lean-to roof, roughcast rendered chimneystack with clay chimney pot, roof hidden behind raised roughcast rendered and red brick parapet. Rubble calp limestone walls. Relieving arches to north elevation. Pointed arch window openings to front (west) elevation, red brick voussoirs, render reveals, cut granite sills and timber framed windows. Windows inserted into former door openings to ground floor to front, now boarded up. Pointed arch door opening to front, red brick surround, timber battened door, granite step.
The modest form and scale of this building provides a strong contrast to the formal design and materials of the hospital. It may have served as an early gate lodge or garden building. Known to staff as 'The Leper House', it may have functioned as a rudimentary isolation unit, sited as it is within the walls but at some distance from the original hospital. Its stone construction is subtly enhanced by pointed arch openings and red brick detailing, which provide visual and textural contrast. Forming part of a group of related structures, it is also of contextual interest.