Mount Vernon Hospital

TQ 09 SE RICKMANSWORTH ROAD 38/376 (south side) NORTHWOOD Mount Vernon Hospital

Gv II

Hospital. 1902-4 by F L Wheeler. Flemish bond brown brick with red brick quoins and dressings; stone ashlar dressings; gabled plain tile roofs; brick ridge and lateral stacks. Y-shaped plan, with V-shaped wards facing south with central block linked by corridors to entrance/dining block and domestic block to rear. Edwardian Free style. Central 3-storey, 5-bay block, with stone ashlar ground floor and central 4-storey tower, flanked by 2-storey, 14-bay wings. Central tower, with stone Ionic pilasters set on angle buttresses, has stone ashlar facing to 3 lower storeys with glazing bar casements set in semi-circular arched wood-mullioned and transomed window, square-headed stone-mullioned and transomed window and upper Ipswich window with blind tympanum; brick upper storey has continuous glazing bar casements divided by Ionic colonettes; classical stone cornice beneath copper roof surmounted by bell cupola. Tower flanked by 2-bay elevations with canted bay windows, stone mullioned and tran- somed windows, and dentilled stone cornice beneath 2-light stone mullioned windows and shaped gables with stone-coped parapets. This central block is flanked by semi-circular arched doorways with Ionic colonettes to jambs, set in ashlar surrounds with pilasters, and lower 2-storey wings with similar off-centre shaped gabled bays which each have stone mullioned and transomed window above semicircular arched entry; gauged red brick arches over later 1980's windows and French windows; continuous balconies with balustrades; modillioned wood cornices. Each wing terminated by tall winter garden, gabled with cast-iron casements to front; tall brick piers with moulded stone caps to each corner. Rear elevations, corridors and attached blocks in neo-Georgian style with sashes; central corridor linked to two blocks; first block has dining room, with lunette over curved bay window, to left and entrance block with modillioned stone cornice to two gables, plain ashlar pilasters to upper floor above ashlar lower floor which has fine pedimented doorway with Corinthian columns flanked by oculi set in carved rococo frames; rear block, former nurses home and kitchen area, has square bay window and pedimented doorway to multi-gabled facade. Interior green glazed brick dados, and semicircular ribs to corridor ceilings; staircase hall in central block has stained glass windows, plasterwork and staircase with turned balusters. History: Built as a hospital for the treatment of tuberculosis patients, and as a branch hospital of the original Mount Vernon hospital in Hampstead (built 1879-80). Noted for its advanced plan, including isolation wards and facilities including X-ray room and dental unit. (THE BUILDER, 27.2.1914, pp 246-7).

Listing NGR: TQ0769392071