St James Hospital And Attached Piers And Lamp Posts

St James' Hospital and Attached Piers and Lamp Posts

Hospital built around 1878, designed by George Rake. The building is constructed in red brick laid in English bond with stone dressings, featuring steep pitched Welsh slate roofs and multiple brick stacks with oversailing brick capping positioned to the left and right of the main entrance block, to the centre and right of the left block, to the centre and left of the right block, and to the left, centre and right of each projecting south-facing block.

The architectural style is Byzantine Gothic. The plan is symmetrically arranged as a box with projecting wings. The main entrance block rises to three storeys across five bays, whilst each flanking block is two storeys wide and six bays deep. At the far left and right, towers rise to four storeys across a single bay. Each of the two south-facing projecting blocks is two storeys tall and seven bays wide (arranged 1 wide/1/1/1 wide/1/1/1 wide).

The quoins feature rusticated rock-face stonework. The central entrance block is dominated by a one-storey open arcade at its centre, containing three four-centred gauged brick arches resting on square gauged brick piers with vertical flutes, all set on rock-faced stone bases. The arches are complemented by banded dripstone above, a gauged brick parapet with quatrefoil pierced stone inset panels, and stone coping raised at the centre with an inset date stone inscribed '1878' and the Portsmouth City coat of arms. A segmental pointed dripstone with dropped labels crowns the composition. Six terrazzo steps lead to the arcade opening, flanked by low staircase walls, two front piers supporting short ornate iron lamp posts. Behind the arcade, the recessed rear wall features a revolving glazed door with side screens and a fanlight set under a segmental pointed stone arch with roll-moulded jambs. To left and right of this door is a two-light wide stone transomed and mullioned casement.

Each projecting end bay of the entrance block has a canted stone transomed and mullioned bay window with a three-light wide front and one-light wide returns to each side, each light fitted with a casement. These bays have banded dripstone above and brick parapets with stone insets similar to those of the entrance arcade, with rock-faced stone plinths set below the sills.

The first floor of the main entrance block contains five stone transomed and mullioned windows with eaved and shouldered architraves and flat arches: the centre window is three lights wide with flanking windows of two lights wide fitted with casements, whilst the end bays have four-light wide windows with sashes. Above each first-floor window sits a gauged brick relieving arch with a segmental pointed profile, and the tympanum is filled with foliated terracotta panels. Above each first and second-floor window is similar ornamentation.

The second floor features a stone sill band with five comparable stone transomed and mullioned windows: the centre window is two lights wide, the flanking windows are one light wide, and the end bays are three lights wide. Over each second-floor window is a pointed gauged brick relieving arch with foliated terracotta panels to the tympanum. Each of the three centre second-floor windows sits beneath a stone-coped brick gable with stone kneelers. Each end bay has a stone-coped facing gable with stone kneelers, a horizontal stone band halfway up the gable, and a recessed roof apex above this band.

At the centre of the entrance block is a lead-covered clock turret with a spirelet.

The left and right returns of the central block are three bays wide and feature similar stone transomed and mullioned windows with brick relieving arches above each first-floor opening. To the left and right of the central block are recessed one-storey links, each containing two one-light wide stone transomed and mullioned windows with timber casements, dripstone bands, brick parapets with moulded stone coping, and rock-faced stone plinths.

To the right of the right link and to the left of the left link are two-storey wings. The right wing features a wide canted bay on its right side running through the first floor, containing stone transomed and mullioned windows three lights wide to the front and one light to each side, each fitted with casements and topped by banded dripstone. The first floor has a stone-banded sill and a similar two-light window with a gauged brick pointed relieving arch, terracotta panels to the tympanum, a facing stone-coped brick gable with stone kneelers, and a hipped roof. To the left of this bay and on the first floor are three further similar stone transomed and mullioned windows: one light wide, then two lights wide, and on the far left three lights wide with casements. The centre left window is full height and extends down to the dripstone band. The left wing mirrors this arrangement but in reverse, with the canted bay positioned on its left side.

To the left and right of each wing is a recessed one-storey link containing three open four-centred gauged brick arches with square gauged brick piers set on rock-faced stone plinths. Behind each arcade, at the centre, is a late twentieth-century two-leaf door with an overlight set beneath a flat rendered arch. To the left and right of this door is a two-light wide stone transomed and mullioned window with casements. These elements are topped by a banded dripstone and stone-coped brick parapet.

At the far left and right corners is a four-storey projecting square tower. At the centre of each tower and to its inward-facing returns is a one-light wide stone transomed and mullioned window with banded dripstone above. The first floor of each tower contains a similar two-light window with a gauged brick pointed relieving arch and panelled terracotta tympanum. The second floor features a stone sill band with a comparable two-light window and banded dripstone. The third floor has a moulded stone sill band with a three-light similar window, banded dripstone, and a brick and stone-coped crenellated parapet.

From the outward corner of each tower runs a two-storey long south-projecting wing. The main south facade of each wing has projecting end bays with facing gables. At the centre of each wing is a twentieth-century conservatory. On the left of the right wing and on the right of the left wing is a canted stone transomed and mullioned bay window four lights wide at the front and one light to each side, each light fitted with a sash. These bays have banded dripstone above and brick and stone parapets, with rock-faced stone plinths below the sills. The outward end bay of each wing contains a five-light wide stone transomed and mullioned window with sashes.

The first floor of each south-projecting wing has a moulded stone band and features at each end and the centre a five-light wide stone transomed and mullioned window with sashes. Each end bay has a brick relieving arch with terracotta panels to the tympanum. The centre window has a facing gable. To the left and right of the centre window are two one-light wide stone transomed and mullioned windows, each fitted with a sash and set beneath eaves.

Interior original features are generally intact. The aisled entertainment and recreation room or theatre is now encased in hardboard, but it is understood that all original features survive beneath this covering, including terracotta medallions by Blashfield, within walls of alternating red brick and chalk bands.

The hospital was established following Portsmouth Town Council's adoption of the powers granted by the Lunatic Asylums Act of 1853 around 1875. After a period during which local paupers were sent to the Hampshire County Asylum at Knowle and Fisherton, the council resolved to build an asylum on 75 acres of land situated between Eastney Lake and Velder Creek.