North Esk Villa -view from SE Digital image of E 3954 cn

Description North Esk Villa -view from SE Digital image of E 3954 cn

Date 8/11/2001

Catalogue Number SC 776783

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content North Esk Villa, Sunnyside Royal Hospital, Hillside, Montrose, Angus, from the south-east This tall, three-storeyed Edwardian villa was built in 1904 to the north-east of the main asylum building to accommodate female pauper patients. The main south-facing front (left) has boldly crowstepped gables, and first- and second-floor windows set within slightly recessed panels rising to blind pointed arches. The large bay windows on the ground floor denote the principal public rooms, and the dormitory accommodation occupied the floors above. Ventilators, housed in elegant turrets, rise from the centre of each roof ridge. Sunnyside Royal Hospital was built to provide effective housing for both private patients and pauper lunatics. However, by late 19th century asylum planning had moved away from the building of a single large hospital unit to the villa or colony system recommended by Dr John Sibbald, a Scottish Lunacy Commissioner, in 1897 as a model for future asylums in Scotland. The villa was considered the best form of accommodation for patients, and many existing asylums began to build villas within their grounds. Each villa was completely self-contained, with its own kitchens, dining and sitting rooms, and dormitory accommodation. Some villas also provided single-room accommodation, although dormitory accommodation was often considered a better arrangement as it required fewer nurses, and created brighter and more open spaces. Sunnyside Royal Hospital, designed by the architect, William Lambie Moffatt (1808-82), was built in 1855-7 on a hillside site 6km north of Montrose to replace the old Royal Asylum in the town. The new site was further developed in 1888-91 when a hospital block, designed by the architects, Sydney Mitchell & Wilson, was built to the north-west of the main building, and a large villa, Carnegie Lodge, designed by the Aberdeen architect, William Kelly (c.1861-1944), was added to house private patients. Another two villas, Howden Villa and North Esk Villa, were built in the early 1900s to provide accommodation for pauper patients, and a nurses' home was constructed in 1935. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/776783

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap