St Joseph’s Orphanage
Visited with Bigjobs, Paradox, Scrappy, Katia, Paul2129, Albino-jay and two of his mates – most of whom had handily been before and knew their way around. It was a great day with great weather and great company that I’d happily explore with again.
Paradox has already covered this in her extremely comprehensive and readable report so I’ve tried to cover it slightly differently. Inevitably much of what follows will be similar though…
This site is like a maze and has been added to over the years, but the original orphanage was endowed by Mrs Maria Holland in 1872 for the benefit of Roman Catholic girls. The building was designed by Preston’s own Mr RW Hughes, and constructed on the site of a former brewery in the Victorian Gothic style from red bricks, with blue brick and sandstone detailing, and Welsh blue slate on the roof. The Dutch Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy ran the orphanage, which initially housed around 50 people.
To the East, and added five years later, is the St Joseph’s Institute for the Sick Poor which offered accommodation for another 25 people. Both of these buildings are listed and are currently planned for conversion into residential accommodation as part of the Winckley Square conservation scheme.
Mrs Holland died in 1878, with much of her estate being used as a permanent endowment for the orphanage.
Mount Street Hospital as it became known gained its first operating theatre in 1910, while new wings were added in 1933, and again in 1955. These additions complicate the layout of the site which has two courtyards, one hidden from street views: As you can see below, the left hand chapel is part of the orphanage, while the right hand hospital wing is due for demolition as part of the redevelopment scheme.
There are many interesting features on an exterior that looks like it needs a lot of work:
During the Great War the hospital cared for wounded English and Belgian soldiers, with Dutch and Belgian sailors benefiting from its services in world War Two.
The hospital closed in 1986, two years before English Heritage noted the importance of the orphanage on social history when listing it in 1988. For a while, the rest of the site operated as an old peoples’ home, before closing for good in 2003. The 1933 hospital wing has remained unused since 1986 however and is only listed in relation to its link with the Victorian original buildings. For that reason it is permissible to allow its demolition and the redevelopment of that part of the site. The 1955 addition being more hidden is to be retained and converted into apartments – rather surprisingly given its bland and characterless construction.
Pictures… A few from the nursing home wing for starters:
The chapel is in pretty good condition, all things considered:
The operating theatres were next to see, in the hospital wing:
I’m not sure what the number 246 signifies but it appeared all around the site in various wings and guises:
One from the top of the Institute...
So there you have St Joseph’s – first stop of the Preston meet. The second stop was Miley Tunnel, which was rather uninspiring until the wire wool came out…
I’ll be back with part two of the meet once I’ve processed the pictures. In the meantime, thanks for looking…
Visited with Bigjobs, Paradox, Scrappy, Katia, Paul2129, Albino-jay and two of his mates – most of whom had handily been before and knew their way around. It was a great day with great weather and great company that I’d happily explore with again.
Paradox has already covered this in her extremely comprehensive and readable report so I’ve tried to cover it slightly differently. Inevitably much of what follows will be similar though…
This site is like a maze and has been added to over the years, but the original orphanage was endowed by Mrs Maria Holland in 1872 for the benefit of Roman Catholic girls. The building was designed by Preston’s own Mr RW Hughes, and constructed on the site of a former brewery in the Victorian Gothic style from red bricks, with blue brick and sandstone detailing, and Welsh blue slate on the roof. The Dutch Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy ran the orphanage, which initially housed around 50 people.
To the East, and added five years later, is the St Joseph’s Institute for the Sick Poor which offered accommodation for another 25 people. Both of these buildings are listed and are currently planned for conversion into residential accommodation as part of the Winckley Square conservation scheme.
Mrs Holland died in 1878, with much of her estate being used as a permanent endowment for the orphanage.
Mount Street Hospital as it became known gained its first operating theatre in 1910, while new wings were added in 1933, and again in 1955. These additions complicate the layout of the site which has two courtyards, one hidden from street views: As you can see below, the left hand chapel is part of the orphanage, while the right hand hospital wing is due for demolition as part of the redevelopment scheme.
There are many interesting features on an exterior that looks like it needs a lot of work:
During the Great War the hospital cared for wounded English and Belgian soldiers, with Dutch and Belgian sailors benefiting from its services in world War Two.
The hospital closed in 1986, two years before English Heritage noted the importance of the orphanage on social history when listing it in 1988. For a while, the rest of the site operated as an old peoples’ home, before closing for good in 2003. The 1933 hospital wing has remained unused since 1986 however and is only listed in relation to its link with the Victorian original buildings. For that reason it is permissible to allow its demolition and the redevelopment of that part of the site. The 1955 addition being more hidden is to be retained and converted into apartments – rather surprisingly given its bland and characterless construction.
Pictures… A few from the nursing home wing for starters:
The chapel is in pretty good condition, all things considered:
The operating theatres were next to see, in the hospital wing:
I’m not sure what the number 246 signifies but it appeared all around the site in various wings and guises:
One from the top of the Institute...
So there you have St Joseph’s – first stop of the Preston meet. The second stop was Miley Tunnel, which was rather uninspiring until the wire wool came out…
I’ll be back with part two of the meet once I’ve processed the pictures. In the meantime, thanks for looking…
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