F Block, St Mary'S Wing, Whittington Hospital

F Block, St Mary's Wing, Whittington Hospital

This former Smallpox and Vaccination Hospital was built between 1848 and 1850 to the designs of Samuel Daukes. It was financed by the Great Northern Railway, whose new terminus at King's Cross involved the demolition of an earlier Smallpox and Vaccination Hospital on the site.

The building is constructed of yellow brick laid in Flemish bond, with purple brick used on the rear elevations. The dressings are of Bath stone, except for the portico which is of Portland stone. The roof is of asbestos slate where visible, and cast-iron is employed in various details. The structure rises three storeys over a basement.

The principal front is symmetrically arranged with a central section of five windows, ranges of seven windows on either side, and wings of three windows at each end. The ground floor features a prominent three-bay Roman Doric portico with paired outer columns and a wider central bay. The portico has an entablature and balustraded parapet. The entrance beneath is round-arched with a cornice, fanlight, moulded stone springing band, archivolt and keystone. It is flanked and linked to two similarly detailed round-arched windows. The outer bays of the centrepiece at ground level are round-arched and decorated with chamfered rustication, while the upper floors display chamfered quoins.

The first-floor windows of the centrepiece are flat-arched with stone architraves, and the three middle windows additionally have cornices. A stone panel above these windows is lettered 'SMALL POX & VACCINATION HOSPITAL.' A dentil cornice runs across this level, now simplified. The attic storey was formerly an open loggia; the three middle bays project forward beneath a pediment, with a bracketed clock positioned between two round-arched windows featuring springing bands, archivolts and keystones. The outer windows of the attic are flat-arched with shouldered and eared architraves beneath a parapet, and blank windows appear on the returns.

The seven-window ranges are founded on a stone plinth. The ground floor has round-arched windows with springing bands, archivolts and keystones. A storey band separates this from the first floor, which has windows that are flat-arched with stone architraves and a moulded sill band. The second-floor windows are round-arched with springing bands, archivolts and keystones, and another moulded sill band. A cornice and panelled parapet cap these ranges, which are roofed with hipped roofs.

The wings feature chamfered quoins and fenestration similar to the seven-window ranges, with blank panels over the first-floor windows. A dentil cornice serves as a sill band to the second-floor windows, blank windows appear on the returns, and a cornice with panelled parapet crowns the composition.

The left and right returns each have central projecting sections of three windows beneath a pediment, with chamfered quoins and flanking wings of three windows on either side. The central first-floor window of these returns also carries a pediment. The dentil cornice from the wings continues across these elevations, finished with a cornice and panelled parapet. A cast-iron fire-escape of late 19th-century date, featuring palm-leaf capitals and ornate newels and balusters, is positioned on the left-hand return within the right-hand bay of the centrepiece.

Original sashes of period design survive on the centrepiece (ground and first floors), the right-hand seven-window range (ground and first floors), the left-hand seven-window range (first floor), the wings, and both left and right returns.

The rear elevations comprise three wings corresponding to the front centrepiece and side wings, with simpler detailing and some use of purple brick in the lower portions. Single-storey blocks of 19th-century date occupy the angles between these wings, some of which have been altered in part.

The interior has been largely altered, though the first floor appears to retain features reflecting the 1900 conversion of the building to nurses' bedrooms and administrative use.