Cottage Hospital And Institute

The Cottage Hospital and Institute, built in 1891 by C.E. Ponting, is a hospital located on Gloucester Road in Almondsbury. The building is constructed of brick with stone dressings and features plain tiled and lead roofs. It has an asymmetrical cruciform plan with a rear side wing and incorporates Renaissance and Queen Anne architectural details in the style of Norman Shaw.

The structure is two storeys high and has three windows under a gable with ball finials on each side. The coped verges are topped with a central stepped finial. The central block projects forward and includes a large bay window with a door that has a transom light and a wooden key, along with a panel featuring a swag and festooned fruit beneath a cornice. There is a small window to the side with a brick relieving arch and a decorative stone apron. A wooden balustraded balcony is present, and at the first floor level, there is a central mullion and transom casement with glazing bars and top lights, adorned with a decorative stone head and jamb shafts in angled brick.

To the right, a clock tower features a door set in a stone round arch with a key, and above it is a memorial plaque encased in a swept architrave with a broken scrolled pediment. The clock is positioned at the second floor level within a scrolled and foliate stone surround, topped with a plain pediment and decorative brickwork. An open arcade of four round-headed arches is located under a cornice that breaks forward at the corners, along with a brick parapet and a lead cupola that houses a bell and weathervane.

The left wing has a shaped gable with a stone fan finial, coped verges, and ball finials on the sides. It features irregular windows, all with glazing bars and stone aprons, as well as a continuous stone weathered string and a stepped stack at the corner. The right wing includes a ground floor oval window in a decorative brick surround with a stone segmental open pediment, along with slit windows in the clock tower at the first and second floors. The rear wing has a small lead cupola and dormers.

Inside, there is a dog leg stair with flat balusters and a decorative newel at the ground floor, along with a boxed handrail. The building features moulded beams with large moulded stops, and the ground floor has six-panelled doors in lugged architraves with pediments above.