Dundee Royal Infirmary, Barrack Road, Dundee

Dundee Royal Infirmary, Barrack Road, Dundee

This large, three-storey corridor hospital was designed by Coe and Goodwin and built between 1853 and 1855 in a commanding position. The building is planned as a collegiate Tudor Gothic U-shape with set-back wings. Following the disintegration of the original Caen stone dressings, Alexander Johnston carried out repairs to details from 1869 onwards. An Out Patients Department and Urology Theatre were added to the west side by James Findlay between 1910 and 1911.

The south elevation is the most impressive facade, comprising 33 bays with an advanced central section of 5 bays. This centrepiece is marked by octagonal angle turrets at its corners. The first floor contains the main entrance, reached by steps with gothic traceried balusters leading to a depressed arched door with timber traceried glazing. Ornately carved spandrels sit between the arch and its hoodmould, while flanking pinnacled buttresses frame the entrance. Above this, a four-light cusped mezzanine window punctuates the elevation. The second floor features a canted boardroom oriel with a six-light cusped and transomed window, accompanied by gargoyles and a castellated parapet. A three-light window sits above. Single lights occupy the flanking sections, with cross windows at ground level and cusped transomes at the first and second floors. The angle turrets repeat similar fenestration on each face. The fifth floor is blind, decorated with armorials and gargoyles, while a castellated parapet crowns the section, stepped up around a central armorial panel. An octagonal cupola with an ogee copper-clad roof and weather vane terminates the centrepiece. Two-bay returns flank the centre with projecting wallhead stacks, though their tops have been removed.

Flanking the central composition are three-storey ward blocks, with single four-storey triple-light bays positioned beside the centrepiece. Twelve bays extend along each side, with gabled centre and end bays advanced. The former incorporates a tripartite section with a gable armorial, whilst the latter features a canted bay rising through three floors surmounted by a single hoodmoulded attic light and castellated parapet. All windows are mullioned and transomed. Flat-roofed extensions were added to the ground floor of the west block in 1963, with a smaller extension added to the east.

The side elevations follow similar treatment, with advanced gabled end and centre bays flanking castellated five-bay sections comprising four cross windows and one single light. Ground floor windows include some three and four-light examples. Four-storey octagonal entrance towers with triple-light mezzanines over the doors punctuate these facades. Single transomed lights occupy each face of these towers, with fourth-floor hoodmoulds and castellated parapets.

The Out Patients Department, added to the west in 1910-11 by James Findlay, adopts a similar architectural vocabulary. It is a single-storey structure with two canted hoodmoulded bays and three four-light mullioned and transomed windows. The entrance features a triple-light mezzanine, whilst a castellated parapet steps down from the main block. The west elevation displays two three-light transomed windows and small mullioned windows with castellated parapet above. The north elevation is low, following the rise of ground, with a damaged square gatepier at the angle.

The Urology Theatre, also by James Findlay in 1910-11, is appended to the north gable of the west wing. This single-storey structure has a bowed three-bay north elevation with altered glazing, accompanied by a lower one-storey and basement projection featuring a single transomed triple-light window. Castellated parapets crown the composition.

The rear elevations are more utilitarian, presenting plain two-storey and basement faces to service yards, retaining original toilet and angled stair towers. Kitchen and dining room blocks occupy the centre, extended in three phases. The southernmost section consists of the original two-storey kitchen with two modern floors added above, constructed in rendered brick. A centre two-bay gabled Victorian block adjoins, followed by a north four-bay piend-roofed block added circa 1910. Within the western court stands a small free-standing octagonal laboratory with porch and swept slate roof featuring louvred lunettes in alternate faces. A louvred lantern ventilator crowns the structure, and the interior is lined in white glazed brick. A telephone exchange is positioned beyond, rebuilt in 1963.

The roofs are slate throughout, except for the 1910 buildings, which feature flat concrete roofs with pitched skylights. Tall square ashlar stacks originally punctuated the roofline, though some have been removed. Windows are predominantly three-pane with horizontal glazing bars and top-hoppers above transoms.

The interior follows a single-corridor plan serving wards positioned along the outer south, east and west faces. The ground floor contains portholes and later Tudor-arched openings towards the kitchen block. The main entrance is accessed through timber gothic traceried doors, whilst the towered side entrances feature later mosaics. The boardroom contains two fine black marble chimneypieces with portrait overmantles, timber panelled dado and shuttering. The oriel window preserves modest stained glass.