Ward Blocks A, B, C, D, E, F And Centre At Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar

Ward Blocks A, B, C, D, E, F and Centre at Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar

A naval hospital built between 1746 and 1762. The preliminary design was prepared by Sir Jacob Ackworth, Surveyor to the Navy, and developed by Theodore Jacobsen. The building was constructed by James Horne, surveyor, and John Turner, Portsmouth dockyard carpenter. The hospital was later altered and partly infilled in the 20th century, with the northern ranges unified in 1967.

The building is constructed of dark red Flemish bond brick with paler rubbed brick heads and Portland stone dressings and carving. It features brick ridge stacks and a slate hipped roof with a central ridge lantern.

The plan consists of six parallel ranges of ward blocks forming three sides of a large courtyard open to the north, with corner residential blocks containing octagonal courtyards.

The main front is designed in Palladian style and is three storeys tall, presenting a symmetrical elevation of 3:2:3:10:7:10:3:2:3 windows. A massive double-stepped ashlar plinth supports the structure, with a first-floor plat band, cornice and parapet. The end three-window sections are set forward, while a four-storey central section features a pediment and raking parapets to two-window flanking sections. The central section has stone bands and round ground-floor arches connected by imposts. The middle arch is a through arch, while the outer arches contain inner round-arched 6/6-pane sashes. The first floor has three 20/20-pane sashes, and the second floor has round-arched lights within rectangular stone frames with bracketed cills and panelled transoms between, with upper 8/8-pane sashes in stone surrounds. A fine, richly carved tympanum featuring the coat of arms of George II and allegorical figures and emblems depicting Navigation and Commerce was carved by Thomas Pierce in 1752. The end two-bay linking sections between projections have two round ground-floor arches with rubbed brick flat heads to 6/6-pane sashes and 3/3-pane sashes to the second floor.

The coupled side wings have plainer elevations with similar articulation, though most sashes have been replaced by mid-20th-century glazing. They feature a central pedimented two-storey three-window unit connected by single-storey, three-window arcade, which formerly led through to the courtyard. The inner elevations are similar with a ground-floor round-arched arcade two bays deep with flat beam ceiling, mostly infilled by late-20th-century glazing, and splayed corner treatment.

The interior was not inspected during the survey, though a 18th-century stair has been reported in one end of the east range.

The hospital was constructed following a request from the Earl of Sandwich to George II, prompted by great losses through sickness during the Spanish wars. It was intended to accommodate 1500 men, with a fourth closing range that was never built, although railings constructed in 1796 connected the two ends to discourage desertion by convalescents. By 1780 it could accommodate 2100 men. Jacobsen was the architect for the London Foundling Hospital (1742-52), and his design with cross-lit wards was considered an important advance in hospital planning. The hospital remained the largest military hospital in England until Netley was constructed a century later. Though determinedly plain, as instructed by the Admiralty, Haslar is an outstanding example of a large 18th-century hospital and a very impressive instance of 18th-century institutional reform and improvement.