Chapel Wing (only) to the former Bristol Royal Infirmary

Chapel Wing to the former Bristol Royal Infirmary

A chapel wing constructed between 1858 and 1859 at the former Bristol Royal Infirmary site, designed by S C Fripp in Gothic style. The chapel opened in 1859, with the lower levels opening in 1860. The listing covers the chapel wing only; the attached contemporary flat-roof link range to the north, covered walkway and steps to the west, lean-to additions to the east, and the twentieth-century former mortuary building to the south are excluded from the listing, as are the remaining buildings of the former Bristol Royal Infirmary.

The building is constructed of Pennant stone with bands of local redstone and freestone dressings, beneath a pitched, gable-end pantile roof with stone chimneystacks. It is rectangular in plan, orientated north to south.

The three-storey chapel and former museum building displays rusticated stone to the lower floors with polychrome stone banding to the upper chapel storey, which features ashlar dressings. High, coped gables run into parapets at the eaves, all decorated with Lombard friezes of pointed arches. The northern gable end is largely blind, topped by a stone chimney stack. The lower levels are partly obscured by the attached link range to the north, and the east elevation facing the street has its lower two floors partially obscured by later additions. The upper floor displays five tall lancet windows and a lateral stone chimney stack. The south gable-end elevation has its lower floors obscured by a later addition; the upper floor contains a large pointed-arched window with Decorated tracery serving as the liturgical east window, with a cinquefoil vent above. This gable is topped by an ashlar cross consisting of four connecting rings. The west elevation has four segmental-arched openings with polychromatic voussoirs and sash-window frames on the ground floor. The first floor contains five smaller openings, all topped by similar polychromatic segmental arches; these windows appear to be twentieth-century replacements. The second floor has five lancet windows matching those on the east elevation, with quatrefoil roundels positioned between the openings. The pitched pantile roof features a decorative central ridge tile.

At the upper level, a trefoil-headed doorway leads from the attached link range into the main chapel. The pews, altar and fireplace have been removed and walls painted white. Moulded plaster arches surround the window reveals. Memorials to staff and patients are mounted on the walls, including those who died during the First World War, Boer War and Mahdist War. Some original stained-glass windows survive, together with a 1911 memorial window by Arnold Robinson dedicated to nurses who served in the infirmary, funded by donations from serving hospital staff. The roof is ceiled with three star-shaped ventilators aligned in a row at its centre running the length of the chapel. The ground floor has been subdivided into offices with a stair to the first floor in one corner. The first floor has undergone less subdivision. The two lower floors retain little internal evidence of their original use. Under section 1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, the interior of the two lower floors is not declared to be of special architectural or historic interest.