The Grange, Harold Wood Hospital

The Grange, Harold Wood. A private house, now a hospital administrative centre, built in 1883 by an unknown architect. The building is designed in an eclectic English Renaissance style.

The house is constructed of red brick with a tiled roof and pre-cast stone window surrounds. It is rectangular in plan with a kitchen range to the north-west; later extensions extend to the rear.

The exterior presents an irregular frontage of seven bays and rises to two storeys with an attic. The entrance bay projects forward and is gabled, with a projecting tiled porch carried on wooden posts flanking York stone steps. The front door is glazed with margin lights. Above the first floor string-course are moulded brick panels. A triple mullioned window with decorative glass in the top-lights is a notable feature. The gable is tile-hung. To the left of the entrance is a bay with two-light mullioned windows to each floor. To the right of the entrance is a projecting single-storey lavatory block with decorative glass and a triple-light window to the first floor. Further right are three double-light mullioned windows to the ground floor and smaller sash windows to the first floor; the attic contains a double-pitched dormer. The right-hand bay projects forward and has four-light mullioned windows to each floor with a stepped coping to the parapet. The roof above is tile-hung, gabled and hipped. Tall chimney stacks punctuate the roofline. The north return elevation is plain to the front; a 1920s generator house of no special interest is attached. The south return elevation has a single storey conservatory at ground floor, now altered, and a canted bay tower at the south-west corner. The irregular rear elevation features mullioned windows to each floor, with a central tile-hung gablet above a six-light projecting ground floor window.

The interior contains several features of architectural interest. The entrance lobby is oak-panelled with a banquette to one side opposite a marble-topped side table with mirror above. Inner double doors are decorated with painted birds and foliage. A ladies' WC to the left retains a blue-and-white ceramic lavatory. The hall is the principal full-height space, dominated by a square hammerbeam trussed roof. A winding stair with turned balusters and square newels with finials leads upwards. The former dining room is panelled to dado height with raised and fielded panelling, a five-panel door with frieze above, recesses on the north side with mirrored receptacles, and an elaborate chimneypiece to the south end with mirrored over-mantel beneath a segmental top. The former billiard room to the north of the entrance retains painted glass depicting billiard balls and cues. Adjoining to the north is the former smoking or gun room, half-panelled with a moulded wooden box cornice, stamped leather wall-hangings, and a tiled fireplace surround. The remaining rooms are less elaborate but retain various chimneypieces; almost all the joinery is original. Service rooms occupy the attic.

The house was built in 1883 as a suburban retreat for John Compton, a City figure and owner of the Gubbins estate who made his fortune as an Army clothier. It was sold by his son in 1894 to William Watson, whose WCW monogram appears in the decorative glass in the hall. The house was acquired by West Ham county borough council and opened as The Grange convalescent home for children in 1909. Numerous alterations were undertaken thereafter, including the addition of a large block to the rear in 1911, but the house remains intact in its essentials. The building is a good example of a late Victorian gentleman's suburban house and its interior eloquently reflects the opulent lifestyle of the period. The Grange became the administrative centre of Harold Wood Hospital, established on the eve of the Second World War. It is presently used as the headquarters of the local healthcare trust.