Salvation Army Men's Palace

Salvation Army Men's Palace

A Men's Social Services Centre for the Salvation Army, designed by Ryder & Yates and completed in 1974. The building is constructed of blue brindle brick with steel windows.

Situation and Setting

The building is positioned on the north side of City Road in an elevated location, adjacent to the early 18th-century Keelman's Hospital. The site slopes steeply from south to north. Rising ground to the front, edged in brick, forms the approach and incorporates three convex earthworks revetted in stone. Paths are paved in blue brick.

Exterior

The main building is a three-storey curved block with an integrated superintendent's rooftop apartment. The pronounced curve at the eastern end reflects the steeply sloping site.

The south elevation features a central entrance accessed via a curving brick ramp, stepped at the west end and protected by a white boomerang-shaped canopy with timber board underside, raised on thin steel columns. The fenestration throughout is asymmetric, comprising numerous narrow single, paired or triple strip lights, pivoted vertically to all floors—the irregularity intentionally reflecting the flexible nature of the interior spaces. At the east end, a first-floor dining room glass oriel window, partly cantilevered, mirrors the building's curve. At the west end, the rooftop apartment rises above the main roof; its detailing is a deliberate visual reference to the adjacent Keelman's Hospital, incorporating its domed clock tower.

The right return is largely blind, angled against a pre-existing right of way, with only a single strip window and a rectangular ground-floor opening (probably a fire escape) whose door creates a deep jamb to one side. The rear elevation mirrors the south elevation's detailing but lacks the first-floor oriel window. It includes an angled, deeply set ground-floor window at its south-east corner.

Rooftop Apartment and Service Core

At the west end, the rooftop apartment has an arched parabolic roof spanning the full width. Its south elevation features a series of narrow horizontal lights with a single tall arched window, all edged in white to echo the main entrance canopy. The north elevation is similarly detailed with a tall square-headed window. The east elevation, also white-edged, contains a pair of original strip windows and a glazed entrance. The west elevation has an original stepped three-light window and a door to the left. To the east of the apartment, the central service core rises through the building with its curvilinear shape and rounded ends clearly articulated in blue brick.

Interior: Main Building

Exposed painted brickwork is used throughout. Corridors and stairs have coloured rubberised flooring. Doors to rooms are mostly original, set in simple timber architraves; those from service areas have circular or oval lights. Original lifts on each floor have simple timber surrounds.

The original steel staircase remains within a curving, partly open stair tower, rising through the building to each floor and accessing the rooftop apartment. It has open treads and a simple steel balustrade, curved within the stair tower and straight elsewhere.

The ground and second floors share nearly identical plans, with a curving central spinal space in which free-standing service blocks—stair tower, lifts and communal bathrooms—stand independently. The central block and the west end of the more easterly blocks have pronounced curved ends. Narrow curving corridors flank this central space, providing access to numerous narrow rectangular rooms. Fire escapes occupy either end of the three floors; larger rooms at the west end are original L-shaped dormitories, some now fitted as kitchens.

The first floor differs in plan, housing the main living areas. A large former recreation room occupies the full width of the eastern half, incorporating the curved structural elements of the service core. The room retains its original plan and proportions, with exposed steel roof beams supported on columns and slender columns supporting the cantilevered window, which retains original curved glazing.

Rooftop Apartment Interior

The parabolic roof is evident throughout. A narrow off-centre L-shaped hallway widens at its eastern end due to a convex south wall reminiscent of the curving stairwells elsewhere; this wall forms one side of a small bathroom. To the right of the hall, occupying the north side, is a narrow rectangular bedroom with doors at each end, probably formerly two small rooms.

The extreme western part comprises a pair of rooms separated by a partition with glazed upper panels. The northern room has a tall square-headed window with a similarly shaped light well; the southern room has a tall round-headed window with a round-headed light well. Both rooms have windows overlooking a rooftop garden to the west, and one has a door giving direct access. A small geometric lean-to building stands at the bottom of the garden.

The south side of the apartment has a pair of small bedrooms. Original doors remain throughout, though bathroom and kitchen fittings have been replaced.

Exclusions

The partially demolished rear range, the modern linking walkway and the rear compound walls are excluded from the listing as they are not of special interest. Modern kitchen fittings and sanitary ware are also excluded.