Welfare Office, East Fortune Hospital

Welfare Office, East Fortune Hospital

This is a single-storey building dating to around 1916, originally constructed as the Warrant Officer's office at the Royal Naval Airship Station. It forms part of a group listing alongside other hospital buildings on the site.

The building has an L-shaped plan and comprises five bays. It sits on a concrete plinth with an integral drainage channel. The walls are constructed of white-painted corrugated iron, supported on pilotis (posts). The eaves course and bargeboards are painted timber. A gabled south elevation features an entrance door positioned to the left of centre. The openings, predominantly set close to the eaves, contain replacement single fixed pane glazing with top hung hoppers. The pitched roof is also of white-painted corrugated iron, with later additions to the original structure.

East Fortune is the most complete surviving example of a purpose-built First World War airship base in the United Kingdom. This building is one of the few remaining original structures from that period and represents a rare surviving example of a corrugated iron military building of its era. The building remains largely unaltered since construction.

The Royal Naval Air Station was established following approval in September 1915 and officially commissioned on 23 August 1916 with the arrival of the first airship. It was strategically positioned on the east coast to undertake coastal patrols and protect the Firth of Forth. Between 1916 and 1920, the station expanded to include additional airship hangars and replacement brick barracks. Following the closure of the airship station in February 1920, the site was operated as a sanatorium from 1922. The building gained particular historical significance as the launch point for the HMA R.34, the airship that completed the first East-West trans-Atlantic flight and the first return crossing by air. During the Second World War, the site was temporarily requisitioned and operated as part of an RAF and WAAF training base. The sanatorium operation continued until 1997. Since 1975, the airfield and associated structures have been operated by the National Museum of Flight. The site is situated north of the disused airfield, which is designated as a scheduled monument.