Main block of Cambridge Military Hospital

Main block of Cambridge Military Hospital

This former administrative block of a military hospital was built between 1875 and 1879. The architect is unknown, though it is thought to have come from the Royal Engineers' Department. The builder was Messrs Martin Wells and Co. The building forms the central block of a large pavilion-plan hospital constructed during the same period, which was extended in 1893 and subsequently, though only this main block is of special architectural interest.

The building is constructed of yellow brick with Bath stone dressings and slate roofs.

The front, or north, elevation presents an imposing symmetrical Italianate facade dominated by a tower. The building rises two storeys above a raised basement. The central section projects slightly forward and is crowned with a small pediment. The ground floor features a large single-storey semi-circular bay with pilasters between the windows and a balustraded parapet. This central feature is flanked by five window bays and by forward-projecting wings at each end, each wing containing three bays. Two single-storey entrance porches sit within the inner angles of the wings, approached by stone steps and featuring round-headed doorways and fanlights. A modern glazed covered way has been attached to the west porch, though this is not of special interest. The wings have rusticated ground floors and pediment gables linked to the eaves entablature, which extends across the whole front elevation. The first floor sash windows sit under gauged flat arches, and those in the wings have cornices and cills on brackets, flanked by four pilasters. Ground floor sashes have rounded heads in recessed arches. Basement windows sit under keyblocks in flat arches. The basement throughout displays English bond brickwork with horizontal nailhead banded decoration.

The centrepiece is a massive square tower set on a stepped base. The lower stage contains three windows, with the outer ones blind and the central one fitted with a decorative iron grille. Above, stepped corner broaches meet an octagonal belfry stage featuring round-headed openings alternated with small rectangular ones above the impost level, likewise fitted with decorative iron grilles. The roof is an oval leaded cupola containing projecting circular openings and supporting a square clock turret, topped by a concave pyramidical roof.

The ward blocks, whilst of interest as part of the overall composition, have been altered and do not constitute an early example of the pavilion plan, which had been widely adopted for hospitals nationally by 1875. They are not therefore of special architectural interest.

The interior plan comprises a central former medical officers' room, flanked by pairs of interconnected rooms in the wings, with stairs positioned in the inner angles of the wings on the rear elevation. The central room contains a pair of cast-iron columns on granite bases supporting the lintel of the bay window. The ceiling features a plaster cornice and moulding with floral decoration. The stairs have decorative cast-iron balustrades.

The site of Aldershot was established in 1852 when 8,000 acres of low-cost heath were purchased as the location of the first permanent training ground for the Army, large enough to accommodate regular summer exercises for ten to twelve battalions at once. In 1854, work began on permanent barracks, and by 1856 North and South Camps had been erected, consisting of regular grids of wooden huts. A new pavilion-plan hospital had been proposed as early as 1856, though this scheme was never executed. The Cambridge Military Hospital was built between 1875 and 1879, replacing temporary huts and providing a total of 268 beds. Its virtually symmetrical plan closely followed that of the Royal Herbert Hospital at Woolwich, built 1859 to 1865, comprising a central administrative block with originally six pavilion wards arranged three to either side. The hospital opened on 18 July 1879 and was named after His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Army from 1856 to 1895.

The Cambridge is thought to have been the first army base hospital in history to receive casualties directly from the battle front. The injured from the Battle of Mons in 1914 were transported by ship to Southampton and then to Aldershot as a staging station before being moved to other hospitals. It is also believed to have been the birthplace of plastic surgery in the British Empire. Captain, later Sir Harold, Gillies established a Plastic Unit at the Cambridge at the end of 1915, having been sent there after working with Morestin in Paris. Sir William Leishman, the famous pathologist (1865–1926), also worked at the hospital and had a laboratory named after him in 1932.