Moor Hospital, New Block

The New Block of the Moor Hospital was built in 1882 as an extension to the County Lunatic Asylum. Designed by AW Kershaw, it was constructed with squared coursed sandstone, ashlar dressings, and a slate roof, and is in the Gothic Revival style. The building is symmetrical in plan, with a central three-storey block topped by a six-storey tower, and two ward wings extending at right angles on either side. A central spine connects each wing. The inner wings are three storeys high, while the outer wings are two storeys high. Each wing features a three-bay canted front wall with a hipped roof. The tower has corner pinnacles and a bell stage with glazed lancet openings. A projecting open porch with pointed arches and octagonal corner pinnacles is at ground floor level. The main block has four bays, with the inner bays narrower than the outer bays, which contain paired windows. Ground-floor windows have trefoiled ogee heads, while upper-floor windows are pointed. Above each window, set within a blind arcade of chamfered pointed arches that rise through two storeys, is a window featuring a stone cross within a circle. Pinnacles are at the outer corners of the main block. The windows are a mix of timber sashes without glazing bars and aluminium replacements. Twentieth-century flat-roofed lift towers have been added near the ends of the spines connecting to the three-storey wings, and flat-roofed extensions are against the return walls of both wings. Alterations have been made to the links to the outer two-storey wings; the front wall of the right-hand half of the north-east link has been rebuilt, as has part of the left-hand link. The hospital complex developed from 1816 and other earlier parts are separately listed.