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Description

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St Nicholas hospital site built in 1899 is situated in the centre of Gosforth Newcastle The site comprises 12 hectares of land with mainly Victorian style buildings some new build facilities and a number of other buildings across the site

The majority of the site is subject to a conservation order through the local planning and Local Development Framework

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History

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A new asylum for Newcastle was built in 1866 after a 50 acre farmstead was purchased at Coxlodge The foundation stone for the new asylum was laid there in August 1866 and it opened as Newcastle upon Tyne Borough Lunatic Asylum in July 1869 with 159 patients

By 1882 when it changed its name to Newcastle upon Tyne City Lunatic Asylum the average number of patients had risen to 265 In 1884 the Commissioners in Lunacy gave permission to extend the hospital and the East and West Pavilions were completed in 1887 providing accommodation for an additional 80 patients

Still numbers rose until in 1891 they exceeded 400 Again the City Council decided to enlarge the hospital to accommodate another 350 patients Architects were invited to compete for the commission of a new separate building to the east of the existing hospital to include a recreation hall and chapel a residence for the Medical Superintendent a new entrance lodge and 10 cottages for married attendants 18 sets of plans were submitted and those of J W Dyson were accepted It was not until the end of 1894 however that the foundations were completed and 4 July 1900 that the new institution opened to a favourable reception from the press

The Medical Superintendents house though was never built
Extensions were again carried out in 1913 when two villa blocks for 40 patients each and a Nurses Home were built In 1914 patients were evacuated and the hospital became Northumberland No1 War Hospital for wounded soldiers who were brought there by train It was not handed back until 1921

In 1923 the verandah for Ward 9 was constructed and in 1925 a cinema room was added to the recreational facilities Conditions in the 1920s however seem to have been generally grim for both patients and staff with a poor diet and clothes a strict regime and a lack of heating Although a new admission hospital was suggested in 1931 no further extensions were built before the hospital was taken over by the National Health Service in 1948 when it changed its name to St Nicholas Hospital

Overcrowding continued to be a problem into the 1950s since the Interim Treatment Centre which opened in 1950 was dedicated to therapeutic and diagnostic techniques rather than a residential unit Finally in July 1954 the foundation stone was laid for the admissions unit planned in the 1930s to provide another 118 beds including two convalescent villas This opened on 29 September 1956 as the Collingwood Clinic where all new patients were admitted and had their treatment initiated The programme produced for its official opening expressed the wish that the great majority will depart recovered or relieved without seeing more than a glimpse of the old building but recognised that perhaps a tenth of the total will need to spend longer at St Nicholas than Collingwood Clinic can accommodate

The aim of the clinic was to have small wards rather than the huge 80 or more bed wards of the main hospital allowing the staff to know the patients intimately by which means alone success in treatment of the long stay patient can be assured

A very big thank you goes to Logan Ewing who kindly supplied these pictures for display on our site If youre keen to learn more about St Nicholas Hospital then look out for his book on the site which is set to be published in 2009