Market Harborough Ambulance Station

Former ambulance station built in 1924 and designed in a Queen Anne Revival style by H G Coales.

MATERIALS: built of brick laid in English bond, with brick, stone and tile dressings. The pitched roof is covered in plain clay tiles, and the windows and doors are of timber. The mid-C20 addition is of brick laid in stretcher bond.

PLAN: rectangular on plan, the two-storey ambulance station has a double garage to the ground floor, a staircase to the south corner, and a lecture room above. There is a lower two storey wing to the south-east elevation. To the north-east elevation is a mid-C20 two-storey extension providing an additional staircase and ancillary rooms.

EXTERIOR: the north-west gable end forms the principal elevation with the building extending to the rear. The ground floor comprises glazed black brick pilasters and a central cross window flanked by a pair of folding, half glazed, timber garage doors; a stone plinth beneath incorporates conical bollards to the garage entrances. Above is the glazed black tile fascia featuring the St John Ambulance Brigade emblem (The Amalfi Cross, a white eight-pointed cross on a black background) to either side of the lettering ‘MARKET HARBOROUGH AMBULANCE STATION’. The first floor is of red brick and has a large Diocletian-style window divided by brick piers and set within a semi-circular rubbed brick arch with a stone keystone supporting a flagpole. To the corners are brick pilasters with pronounced brick banding that extend above the roofline. The gable is accentuated by an applied stone triangular open pediment with corbels and an entablature-style detail to the corners. The rear entrance is to the side (south-west) elevation which also features an axial chimney stack and a series of small-paned sash and casement windows set beneath rubbed brick arches. To the end of this elevation is a lower two-storey wing. The side (north-east) elevation is blind, and set back from the road, is a mid-C20 narrow two-storey brick extension in stretcher bond. The tiled dado incorporates the St John’s Ambulance Brigade emblem and the dates 1887-1987, marking the organisation’s centenary.

INTERIOR: the first-floor lecture room, spanned by metal trusses with angled struts has pilasters to the side walls, a wood block floor and a doorcase. The dogleg staircase has stick balusters. The doors have been replaced throughout with fire doors.