Elizabeth Newton Wing, Springfield Hospital

This list entry was subject to a Minor Enhancement on 9 April 2025 to amend the language used in the description.

The Elizabeth Newton Wing was built in response to the Lunacy Act (1890). and sought to separate children with learning disabilities from adults with mental health conditions. It is recognised that the terms ‘lunatic’ and ‘idiot’ are antiquated terms that are offensive and is therefore only used here in terms of historic names of buildings and legislation.

TQ 2727 1207/16/10075 GLENBURNIE ROAD, SW17 Elizabeth Newton Wing, Springfield Hospital

GV II The Elizabeth Newton Wing (formerly the ‘Annexe for Idiot Children’) at Springfield Hospital. 1895 by Rowland Plumbe. Red brick with stone dressings. Slated roofs with tall brick chimney stacks; central tower roof gabled with a cupola. Small echelon-type plan with four ward wings. Elizabethan style to match the main hospital. Mostly two stories. Central range with three storey battlemented tower, two window bays and a canted bay window. All windows are transom and mullion, most with small panes. Diagonally-set echelon pavilions have battlemented stair tower on the inner angles and similar but wider day-room towers with canted bay windows at the distal ends.

INTERIOR: has a central dining hall with arch-braced timber roof and central clerestory.

HISTORY: this is a unique incidence of an ‘Idiots’ Annexe’ for children within a former Lunatic Asylum and reflects the concern of the Medical Superintendent, Hugh Gardner-Hill to separate children with learning disabilities from adults with mental health conditions. The plan, too, is very unusual for this type of building.

Listing NGR: TQ2730572338