Great Barr Hall and Chapel

Great Barr Hall and Chapel is a country house that was converted to hospital use in the early 20th century. The building contains fabric dating from the 17th century, with substantial additions and alterations made around 1777, in the early 19th century, and a chapel building of around 1856, probably designed by George Gilbert Scott.

The early 19th-century part of the house is of rendered brick with a slate roof. The chapel, built around 1856, is constructed of red brick with blue brick diapering, stone dressings, and a slate roof.

The house is organised on two storeys with a basement. The garden front faces west and is raised by two terraces above a lake, while the entrance front faces north. A top-lit staircase hall forms the central spine of the building, connected to a small entrance hall at the north end. Reception rooms are positioned to the west side, overlooking the landscape, with former service rooms to the east.

At the time of survey in March 2016, the building was in a state of dilapidation. The roof had been almost entirely removed, stucco render had fallen from areas of the upper walls, brickwork had spalled, and sash windows had been removed throughout. Twentieth-century additions to the eastern side have been demolished.

The garden front displays nine bays at first-floor level with ogee-headed openings, square hood moulds, and blind tracery to the spandrels. The central three bays project forward and above the level of those to either side. At ground level, the lateral bays also project forward and feature canted bay windows, with the northern bay now largely collapsed. These projections date from the early 19th-century alterations, while the recessed bays at first-floor level mark the previous building line. Polygonal buttresses with battlemented caps (some incomplete) stand at the angles, with battlements to the tops of the walls.

The north front has two slightly-projecting bays at centre, in front of which stands a projecting single-storey porch with three-light casements to its flanks. Ogee-headed windows with panels of blind tracery above are positioned either side, with the lower portions of polygonal brackets visible between them—these once supported first-floor oriel windows later replaced by 20th-century metal-framed casements, now removed. To the left of this front, set lower, is part of the service wing walling, now largely demolished. The east side of the house now consists largely of exposed internal walling following the removal of service wings and the alterations made by the National Health Service during the building's use as a hospital.

The interior has been extensively stripped of plasterwork, joinery (including fireplaces, doors and their surrounds), and floorboards due to dry rot. At the centre of the plan is a rectangular top-lit staircase hall, connected at its northern end to the entrance hall. Doors from the staircase hall lead to three principal rooms along the west front: a central drawing room with a doorway to the terrace, a library at the north end, and a dining room at the south end. A short passageway from the dining room leads to the chapel.

The staircase hall originally contained a central imperial staircase which began as two flights, rose to a central T-shaped gallery, then split into two flights climbing around the walls to a top landing on the west side. This staircase is now lost. The upper walls feature a series of inset pilasters with strapwork decoration, with projecting capitals supporting depressed arches that divided the hall into bays—three at each of the shorter ends (largely surviving) and nine at each of the longer flanks (now fragmentary). Plaster vaulting ribs spring from corners and sides to create an interlacing pattern. Three octagonal lanterns with incomplete strapwork decoration occupy the centre of the hall, and a similar octagonal skylight is set to a first-floor landing ceiling.

At ground-floor level on the eastern side, a stretch of walling with stone footings may form part of the original 17th-century fabric, as may the circular well shaft lined with bricks. Eighteenth-century cellars with brick barrel vaults lie beneath the centre of the house. One has barrel stands to either side, and a wine cellar features arched storage bays. One cellar vault has partially collapsed.

The chapel building is attached to the right of the house's west front, projecting slightly. It is of red brick with blue brick diapering in a lattice pattern. A lower linking corridor with a moulded ashlar doorway surround connects the house and chapel. The western flank of the chapel has three bays with a projecting plinth with blue brick moulding and a flush ashlar sill band. Each window is set beneath a gable and contains two lights with Carnarvon arches to the lower windows and a very generous transom, which hides the sill beam supporting the roof structure and is set with two quatrefoil panels of foliage carving. The upper arches rise into the gables and formerly had cusped lights, trefoils to the apex, and dogtooth ornament to the outer arches, but these upper portions have now collapsed. At the time of survey, the central archway and window had been removed. Elaborately-carved kneelers stand at either end, and the gables have ashlar copings. The east side is similar in treatment.

The southern gable end (ritual east) has lost the majority of its upper walling, including the former five-light window with cusped heads and quatrefoils and trefoils to the apex. The north gable end (ritual west) features a rose window with deeply-carved ashlar surround and a series of six quatrefoils surrounding a central polygon.

The chapel has suffered from fire damage and its roof covering has almost entirely gone. Two charred roof trusses remain, each consisting of a tie supported by arched braces carrying a moulded king post and two ranks of purlins, with ashlar posts connected to the common rafters. The floor is laid with plain tiles, and the internal walls carry the same trellis pattern of diapering seen on the exterior.