Hospital To West Of Main Barrack Block St Georges Barracks

The hospital located to the west of the main barrack block at St George's Barracks in Gosport was built around 1860 and is now disused. It is constructed of yellow stock brick with a painted front, featuring end and rear lateral stacks and a hipped slate roof in an Italianate style. The building has a rectangular single-depth plan, with a double-depth right-hand end.

The exterior is single storey, rising to two storeys at the right-hand end, and has a 12-window range. The symmetrical front displays an impost band above an arcade of round arches that contain round-arched windows with metal frames and glazing bars. The central entrance features double half-glazed doors with margin panes beneath a small pediment that has a blind oculus. A full-length verandah runs beneath the impost band, supported by moulded cast-iron posts and featuring a flagged pavement and a raking roof. The two-storey north end has two flat-headed ground-floor 6/6-pane sash windows and two round-arched 6/3-pane sash windows in pedimented half-dormers, separated by a lateral stack. The rear of the building mirrors the front with 12 windows, although the northernmost window is obscured by a later addition, and there are four tall lateral stacks.

The interior has not been inspected but is noted to have two large cross-lit rooms on either side of a central lobby from the entrance, each with large internal sash windows and two rear fireplaces that are blocked. This hospital is a unique example of hospital planning, featuring ample ventilation, light, and a front access verandah, which suggest a reformed design that anticipated some of the changes introduced by the pavilion plan. The barracks served as a transit station for infantry and were built after the Crimean War. This unique barracks and its complete site, including the Lines earthworks, highlight Gosport's significance in the defenses surrounding the Portsmouth dockyard.