Royal Eye Hospital

The Royal Eye Hospital, built between 1884 and 1886 by architects Pennington and Brigden, is a hospital located on Oxford Road in Manchester. It features a large U-shaped plan with receding wings, constructed from red brick with matching terracotta dressings and red tiled roofs. The building is designed in the Queen Anne style, reminiscent of the work of Norman Shaw, and consists of three storeys, a basement, and an attic, arranged in a symmetrical layout of 2:1:5:1:5:1:2 bays.

Distinctive architectural details include various types of Queen Anne ornamentation, such as fluted friezes adorned with sunflowers. The central and flanking single-bay elements are narrow canted stair-turrets that project slightly and are topped with steeply-pitched hipped roofs and finials. These turrets feature tall, two-stage round-headed stair-windows with glazing bars, pilastered surrounds, and pediments on consoles, as well as oeil-de-boeuf windows at the attic level.

The five-bay main ranges include balustraded balconies on the first floor of the second and fourth bays, with pendent pilasters on the upper floors and pedimented half-dormers containing paired windows. Most of the windows are segmental-headed, with those on the first floor having cornices and those on the second floor featuring keystones. The end portions of the building are gabled wings with slightly raised centres, separated segmental-headed windows at ground level, and paired windows on the upper floors, the lower of which have canted balustraded balconies. The hipped roofs are interrupted by pedimented gables that display terracotta panels with relief groups. The ground floor windows are sashed with glazing bars, while those on the upper floors have been altered. The building also features tall, narrow multiple-flue chimney stacks. The rear and interior have not been inspected. The Royal Eye Hospital forms a group with the Royal Infirmary located to the south.