Old Union Poor House (Workhouse)

HOSPITAL HILL 1. 5238 Aldershot Old Union Poor House Workhouse) Formerly listed as Union Building under Aldershot Camp) SU 85 SE 2/42 20.8.79 II 2. C1630. Originated as a residence of Sir Richard Tichborne, greatly extended following its use under the terms of the Poor Law Act of 1834. One of five buildings within the area purchased by the War Department in 1854, for the purpose of developing the Camp. Used by the Army 1854-79 as No 2 Station Hospital, and afterwards as the District Pay Office.

1838-40. Of Jacobean style, the 2 storeyed main front has 3 gables and single-storeyed wings; 1.3.1 windows. There is an extension to the rear, finishing with another black at right-angles. Red tile roofing throughout, with gables. Walling in red brick (English bond) with flush blue bricks in vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines, imitative of half-timbering rather than of Tudor diapers. On the front, there are mullion and transom windows, but also some recent insertions of small lights at first floor level. There is a gabled porch, with an open framed roof resting on a brick wall, with buttresses; the off-centre placing breaks the symmetry of the fenestration.

There have been later alterations to the buildings at the rear, being extensions and additional floors; the oldest part of the rear wall is in rubble ironstone, with red brick buttresses, dressings, and horizontal bands. The end chimneys are Tudor stacks, diagonal on square bases.

Listing NGR: SU8608751108