Brighton General Hospital, Arundel Building

BRIGHTON

TQ3205SE ELM GROVE 577-1/30/278 (South East side) Brighton General Hospital, Arundel Building

II

Brighton workhouse and infirmary, now a hospital. Dated 1865 on foundation stone to right of entrance, 1866 on central clock tower, and actually completed 1867. Designed by George Maynard for the Board of Guardians of the Parish of Brighton. Stucco, roof of slate. EXTERIOR: 4 storeys over basement, 37 windows in a long, symmetrical range facing out over Elm Grove arranged as a centrepiece of 3-window range between pedimented, slightly projecting wings of 3-window range, then a long range of eleven windows, and pavilions of 3-window range. Sashes of original design except in one window on third floor of centrepiece. The centrepiece: banded rustication to ground floor; flat-arched central entrance, altered, flanked by segmental-arched windows; first-floor central window segmental-arched with architraves between fluted pilasters, and flanked by round-arched windows, all 3 linked by a springing band; storey band; second-floor central window tripartite with engaged columns, entablature and central pediment, flanked by flat-arched windows; third-floor central window tripartite and flanked by flat-arched windows, that to the left altered (the only obviously altered window in the whole front); over the central window is a square tower of 2 stages, a clock stage with clocks on all 4 sides and console brackets at the corners, and a lantern stage with round-arched louvres and convex lead roof. The wings either side of the centrepiece have banded rustication to ground floor; ground-floor windows segmental-arched, first and second floors flanked by rusticated strips as quoins; first-floor windows round-arched with springing band and archivolts; second- and third-floor windows flat-arched; bracketed cornice to pediment with Brighton dolphins in the tympanum. The long wings have flat-arched windows to ground floor, the central ones with blocked architraves and segmental pediments, as if once doors; segmental-arched windows to first floor with storey band, flat-arched to second and third floors. The pavilions match the wings that flank the centrepiece, giving a composition a b a c a b a. INTERIOR: not inspected. HISTORICAL NOTE: this building was the first part of the workhouse and infirmary to be built; infirmary blocks facing Pankhurst Avenue were added in 1891. The buildings ceased to be used as a workhouse in 1930 and were taken over by Brighton Municipal Hospital in 1935. (Carder T: The Encyclopaedia of Brighton: Lewes: 1990-).

Listing NGR: TQ3288505220