Storey Home

The Storey Home is a nurses' home dating to 1897, with minor alterations in the late 20th century. It was designed by Paley and Austin of Lancaster and built for Sir Thomas Storey as part of the Lancaster Asylum complex, now the Royal Albert Hospital. The building is constructed of coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings and has hipped roofs clad in Westmorland slate.

The front (east) elevation has seven bays, with a three-storey central section and two-storey advanced wings. An off-centre entrance is located within a canted porch, featuring a semi-circular doorway with a moulded surround and panelled double doors with decorative grilles above. A gablet displaying a coat of arms and motto sits above the doorway. To the left is a tall three-light window with an ogee-headed light, and above it, a plaque commemorating the building’s construction by Sir Thomas Storey in the 50th year of Queen Victoria’s reign (1897). A canted bay window is positioned above, with its roof forming part of a narrow mansard. A small gabled dormer sits above the bay, flanked by two large mullion and transom windows beneath hall-hipped dormer roofs. Ashlar chimney stacks rise from the right-hand slope of each dormer. Lower advanced wings extend at either end of the main range, each featuring two ground-floor sash windows in ashlar surrounds. Above, a centrally-placed coupled sash window with an overlight is set within a half-hipped end dormer.

The interior, at the time of listing, contained original door and window joinery. Decorative moulded plaster cornices and plasterwork decorate the entrance archways. The attics of the wings feature exposed roof tie beams with curved braces and decorative infill to the spandrels.

Historically, the building provided accommodation for around 40 nurses who had completed training or were in their final year of residence. It was intended that their services would be used for both household work and assistance with nursing and domestic duties within the Asylum.