Site of Brentwood Community Hospital formerly the Brentwood District Hospital (EHER 15635)

Interwar voluntary subscription hospital, built in 1934 and demolished in 2006. Three-storeys and built of brick, it has single-storey wings extending north at the ends. There are numerous post 1948 additions.

Brentwood District Hospital was constructed in 1934 on the former site of the Brentwood Cottage Hospital (moved to Shenfield Common in 1895); it occupies an 18-acre plot to the south of Shenfield Road. Built in a T-shaped plan to designs prepared by Hugo. R. Bird, the axial lines of the main ward blocks were laid out approximately north/south and east/west in order to maximise the use of sunlight. Originally providing 40 beds, the hospital was designed to allow for the addition of two further wings (to the rear) increasing the number of beds to 100; the enlargement was never built. Constructed of three-, two- and single-storey ranges the hospital includes a main road facing east-west block erected on three levels, a two-storey ward block projecting south from its rear elevation and single-storey wings extending north from either end housing kitchens together with an operating theatre and accident ward. Administration offices are located on the ground floor of the east-west range, with the nurses and staff accommodation above on both the first and attic storey. A wide corridor, originally decorated with cork tiled floors and terrazzo margins, runs the entire length of the east-west range on all three levels and extends to the large open 12-bed wards in the rear bays of the southern projection. These wards, male at ground floor and female at first floor, are set out in a unusual T-shaped plan; this reduced the length of the ward and allowed the beds which were set parallel to the windows and separated by glass screens, to be easily curtained off and converted into individual cubicles. Opposite-set sash windows with hoppers enhanced cross-ventilation within the wards. Accommodation was later increased by the addition of a full height four bay extension built in a similar architectural style on the southern end. Children were housed in a separate ward on the first floor of the west wing which opened out onto a solarium for open-air treatment. Built on substantial re-inforced concrete foundations comprising bases, piers and ground beams the elevations are of Kentish stocks with red brick dressings laid in stretcher bond. The Mansard roof has hipped ends and is covered with hand-made sand-faced tiles. Flat-headed dormer windows punctuate the roof-line, with semi-circular pediments above those on the ends and at the centre. The main entrance lies centrally within a five-bay projection on the facade and is flat headed with a rectangular fanlight above; it is surrounded by a stone porch with ornate brackets flanked by small windows with moulded architraves. A larger window surmounted by a triangular pediment with round headed windows either side lies at first-floor level. The windows all have gauge brick heads and double-hung, steel-framed sashes mounted in timber frames. The rear ward block is flat-roofed with a parapet wall and was built for use in open-air treatment; the windows in the rear projection were probably replaced with modern double glazed units when the four-bay extension to the wards was added. Later additions include a modern, flat-roofed single-storey building to the rear with a raised central roof light infilling the angle between the two main ranges, together with two gable ended timber-built structures and a pre-fabricated building on the west elevation of the west wing. The single-storey projections to the front have seen alterations and a boiler room/porters office has also been built onto the east wing. Finally, a two-storey flat-roofed extension has been added to rear of the east wing. Located in a formerly quiet area, toward the eastern end of the site, is a small chapel that appears of be contemporary with the main hospital. The chapel is a single-storey yellow stock brick range of six bays with a plain tiled hipped roof surmounted by a cupola-style ridge ventilator; a central entrance bay projects from the front. Over the head of the doorway is a triangular porch below which is a semi-circular fanlight and an inscription ‘MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU’. The windows are all small, timber-framed casements with tile heads. The gardens to the rear of the hospital still remain and comprise mainly evergreen and mature deciduous trees and some examples of more exotic shrubs. A small timber ‘shed-like’ chalet frequently used by sanatoria for the treatment respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis still remains in the hospital grounds. <1> Photo ref. <2> Brentwood did not have its own hospital until 1883, when a cottage hospital on Shenfield Common was converted by a wealthy local businessman. In the absence of any statutory assistance all building maintenance and staffing costs were raised by voluntary efforts. Those who could not afford it were given free treatment while others contributed what they could. A report of the Voluntary Hospitals Commission to the Minister of Health in 1925 found that a further 10,000 beds were needed outside London and voluntary hospitals should be granted aid to enlarge. The local government act of 1929 transferred responsibility of many existing hospitals, workhouses to local authorities, but Brentwood was not included and so received no provision by ECC. Whilst Hugo Bird had been commissioned to design an extension to the existing cottage hospital, it was realised that the proposals would only meet existing demands and not cater for the anticipated expansion of Brentwood to c. 30,000 people. Local landowner, P. Bayman offered to donate an 18 acre site , formerly part of Middleton Hall, as long as a new hospital was built there. Fund raising increased to £20,000 by 1932 and Hugo Bird produced a design for which a tender of £26,677 was accepted from C. Foster and Sons of Loughton. The princess royal laid the foundation stone in May 1933 and the project was completed in March 1934 and opened debt free on 22 May 1934 by princess Helena Victoria after considerable efforts to raise the final total of c.£38,000. <3> No new information included from NRHE data transfer but see <4> for related archives.