King Edward VII Buildings, Royal Victoria Hospital, Grosvenor Road, Belfast

King Edward VII Memorial Building, Royal Victoria Hospital

This is a detached, symmetrical, multi-bay, three-storey building over a basement, built in red brick in the Edwardian period and dated 1914. It was designed by the architects Young and Mackenzie and constructed by McLaughlin and Harvey at a cost of £20,000. It sits on a prominent corner site at the north-west of the Royal Victoria Hospital complex, at the junction of the Falls Road and Grosvenor Road in Belfast, and forms part of a wider group of buildings from the turn of the 20th century that together constitute the hospital complex.

Historical Background

Belfast expanded at a phenomenal rate during the 19th century. Its population grew from around 20,000 in 1800 to 70,000 by 1841, over 120,000 by 1871, and 385,000 by 1911, making it by far the largest urban population in Ireland. This rapid growth placed severe pressure on medical facilities, particularly the Belfast Royal Hospital in Frederick Street, and by the end of the 1800s it was clear that a new hospital was needed. The Royal Victoria Hospital was built at the junction of Grosvenor Road and Falls Road, designed by William Henman of Henman and Cooper, who had previously been responsible for Birmingham General Hospital. McLaughlin and Harvey won the building contract in September 1900, the foundation stone was laid in early 1901, and the hospital was officially opened on 27 July 1903 by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra during their visit to Ireland.

Following the death of Edward VII in 1910, the hospital's Board of Management resolved immediately to erect a memorial building in his honour — a three-storey block over a basement, prominently featuring a clock. Young and Mackenzie were appointed as architects and McLaughlin and Harvey again won the building contract. A bronze bust of Edward VII by the sculptor Bruce Joy was donated by Sir William Crawford. Building work did not begin in earnest until 1913, and completion was delayed by the First World War until 1915. The laboratories were not brought into use until after the war had ended. The building was formally opened by Lord Wimborne, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, on 19 May 1915.

The building was originally intended to house all hospital facilities not adequately provided for in the 1903 building. The lower floors accommodated Dr Thomas Houston's Department of Vaccine Therapy and Haematology, as well as the Electrical (X-ray) Department under Dr John Rankin. The two upper floors provided additional accommodation for nurses and ward maids. In 1925 the eye, ear, nose and throat outpatient clinics moved in, and the following year the top floor became the Dental Department, by which time the nurses had relocated to the new Musgrave Wing. The building also served as storage for patient case records. By the early 1950s it housed the X-ray and Radium Therapy outpatient departments, the Dermatological outpatients, the Ophthalmic outpatients, the Dental Department, and a panelled hall described at the time as pleasant, used for hospital meetings and entertainments. In 1975 the School of Radiography moved out into new purpose-built accommodation. The building now accommodates the Coordinating Centre of the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network.

Exterior

The building is quadrangular on plan, facing north, with the original principal entrance to the east and a central double-height dining hall structure at the centre of the courtyard. Roofs are pitched and covered in natural slate with roll-moulded terracotta ridge tiles, lead valleys, and moulded cast-iron guttering carried on a dentilated sandstone eaves course, with cast-iron downpipes. The apex of the south wing has glazed sections. A copper-clad dome rises from the ridge of the north elevation, featuring an octagonal moulded copper cornice on a raised band decorated with lion-head motifs at regular intervals around its base, and surmounted by a copper crown with a miniature lion on top. The red brick walling is laid in English garden wall bond with ashlar sandstone dressings. Window openings are segmental-arched, formed in gauged brick with sandstone keystones and sills, set in slightly advanced brick surrounds. The windows are largely original single-pane timber sliding sash windows with slender ogee horns, with timber casement windows to the ground floor.

The symmetrical north elevation has a central breakfront surmounted by a dentilated open-base segmental pediment filled with stone carving depicting a royal coat of arms flanked by heraldic beasts. The first floor of the breakfront has tripartite segmental-arched window openings, and the second floor has round-arched openings, both with ashlar sandstone surrounds, projecting keystones, and continuous moulded sill courses. The ground floor has a single segmental-arched window opening with a sandstone surround rising to a pedimented head and moulded hood. The central breakfront is flanked by five bays on each side and further advanced gabled end bays. Windows in the recessed bays are generally segmental-arched with one-over-one panes in original sliding sash windows, raised brick surrounds, and plain sandstone keystones. Ground floor windows in these bays are wider, with replacement side-hung vertical casements and top-hung overlights. The advanced gabled end bays are framed by full-height sandstone-banded red brick clasping pilasters with tripartite window openings having plain sandstone surrounds.

The east elevation, which was intended as the principal façade, is now largely obscured by a late 20th-century building. It is symmetrical, with a pedimented entrance breakfront abutted by a tripartite sandstone portico and a pair of advanced gabled end bays. The entrance bay is three windows wide, each flanked by banded sandstone pilasters rising from the portico and supporting a full dentilated pediment. The pediment houses a clock face with Roman numerals, flanked by large scrolled brackets and surmounted by a diminutive broken pediment. The inner two pilasters are surmounted by a sandstone frieze with raised carved lettering reading "KING EDWARD VII / MEMORIAL / 1914", topped by a further dentilated cornice. The portico rises from basement level and is constructed in rock-faced rusticated sandstone with tooled edges to the ground floor, supporting a plain entablature with a corbelled cornice topped by an arcaded sandstone balustrade. The portico has replacement timber windows and fixed plain glazing to the cheeks. The gabled end bays have a single window to each floor, detailed as on the north elevation. Adjacent to the north cheek of the portico, a window opening has been converted into the present principal entrance, fitted with a timber glazed door. The tripartite doorcase to the ground floor of the east end gable has double-leaf timber panelled doors and an overlight, flanked by replacement top-hung casement windows within segmental-arched openings, all set in a sandstone surround with keystones and opening onto a bitumen macadam area via three concrete steps.

The symmetrical south elevation has three advanced gabled bays, all in red brick with sandstone sills and keystones, otherwise detailed as the north elevation. The symmetrical west elevation is seven windows wide with advanced gabled end bays detailed as the north elevation, except that the central and left windows of the southern advanced bay have been infilled.

At the centre of the quadrangular plan is a double-height, gable-ended red brick enclosure with a corrugated metal duo-pitched roof, which comprises the Dining Hall. The internal ceiling profile does not match the external roof profile. At second floor level, a profiled metal-clad cantilevered structure supported on metal brackets runs along the east, south, and west elevations of the courtyard, fitted with uPVC casement windows. Below this walkway, original timber sliding sash windows with one-over-one panes are spaced at regular intervals.

Interior

The building retains some Art Nouveau details of interest inside. There is also a panelled hall noted historically as having been used for hospital meetings and entertainments.

Setting

The building occupies a prominent north-west corner site within the Royal Victoria Hospital complex. The Grosvenor Road frontage is enclosed by a tall red brick boundary wall with stone coping, and the Falls Road frontage by replacement steel railings. Despite the principal east elevation being largely obscured by a late 20th-century building, the King Edward Memorial Building dominates the junction of Falls Road and Grosvenor Road and largely defines the civic character of this prominent corner. The adjoining red brick boundary walls and pillars along the Grosvenor Road frontage enhance the character of the building.