Mount Vernon Hospital

The Mount Vernon Hospital, built between 1902 and 1904 by F.L. Wheeler, is a notable example of Edwardian Free style architecture. Constructed of Flemish bond brown brick with red brick quoins and dressings, stone ashlar dressings, and gabled plain tile roofs, the hospital occupies a Y-shaped plan. The central block is three storeys high with a four-storey tower, flanked by two-storey wings. The tower features stone Ionic pilasters on angle buttresses, with a variety of window types including glazing bar casements in semi-circular arched wood-mullioned and transomed surrounds, square-headed stone-mullioned and transomed windows, and an upper Ipswich window with a blind tympanum. The brick upper storey of the tower has continuous glazing bar casements divided by Ionic colonettes, topped by a classical stone cornice beneath a copper roof and bell cupola. Flanking the tower are two-bay elevations with canted bay windows, and stone mullioned and transomed windows, finished with dentilled stone cornices and shaped gables with stone-coped parapets. Semi-circular arched doorways with Ionic colonettes are set within ashlar surrounds, leading to lower two-storey wings with similarly shaped gabled bays, each featuring a stone mullioned and transomed window above a semicircular arched entry. Later windows and French windows are visible beneath gauged red brick arches. Continuous balconies with balustrades and modillioned wood cornices add further detail. The wings terminate in tall winter gardens, gabled with cast-iron casements, and the corners are marked by tall brick piers with moulded stone caps. The rear elevations are in a neo-Georgian style, featuring sash windows and a central corridor linking the wings. One block houses a dining room with a lunette above a curved bay window, while the entrance block displays a modillioned stone cornice to two gables and a fine, pedimented doorway with Corinthian columns, flanked by oculi set in carved rococo frames. A rear block, formerly the nurses' home and kitchen area, displays a square bay window and a pedimented doorway to a multi-gabled facade. Internally, the hospital features green glazed brick dados and semicircular ribs to the corridor ceilings. The central staircase hall includes stained glass windows, plasterwork, and a staircase with turned balusters. Originally built to treat tuberculosis patients and serve as a branch hospital of the earlier Mount Vernon hospital in Hampstead, the building was notable for its advanced design, including isolation wards, X-ray facilities, and a dental unit.