Main U-Plan Block, Royal Hospital For Sick Children

This is the main U-shaped block of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, designed by George Washington Browne and built between 1892 and 1895, with later alterations. It is a red sandstone building constructed in a Jacobean Renaissance style. The listing excludes the early 20th-century former outpatients block on Sylvan Place, as well as any additions to the west and north sides.

The building is characterised by a prominent three-storey and attic, five-bay central entrance block, flanked by recessed, three-storey, two-bay sections. Projecting forward are paired box-bay sections with shaped Dutch gables. Large, symmetrical, six-bay, three-storey wings extend to the south, terminating in paired octagonal corner turrets that create a central entrance courtyard. A dentilled cornice runs along the building, and a central doorway is sheltered by a triumphal arched porch with a large segmental pediment, bearing the elaborate floral arms of Scotland.

The advanced gabled bays have three closely spaced windows on each floor, and shaped gable returns with gablehead stacks. The rear elevation features a five-bay design with broad, curved bay windows at the centre, rising to the second floor, and slim, shaped gable roof dormers. A decorative memorial plaque on the east wing commemorates “The Lady Caroline Charteris Wing,” noting it was erected in memory of Lady Caroline Charteris by her sister, Lady Jane Dundas, between 1892 and 1895.

The building is constructed of red sandstone ashlar, with later alterations using similar stonework. It predominantly features aluminium-framed windows, although multi-pane windows are found in the canted bays on the rear elevation.

The interior of the hospital building, inspected in 2014, retains its original plan form in the ward areas, although it has been adapted for modern hospital use with standard finishes dating to the late 20th century. The main entrance lobby and inner hall retain their original layout, with double doors, decorative timber glazed fanlights, and cornicing. A staircase with turned timber bannisters and a cast iron fireplace are found on the attic floor.

A highly decorated boundary wall, located to the south of the entrance elevation, encloses the courtyard. It is composed of low-coursed rubble walls in the centre, with a tall ballustraded frieze and a pair of symmetrical gateways supported by squared columns capped by tall, three-tiered pyramidal caps on ball feet. Solid walls extend to either side, incorporating four round arched details in the coping stones. To the far right is a taller, similarly detailed wall that forms the gable of an outbuilding.