Drawing showing elevation, plan of attic & second floor.

Description Drawing showing elevation, plan of attic & second floor.

Catalogue Number SC 755785

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of AND 61/4 P

Scope and Content Photographic copy of drawings of William Stark's plans for Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum, Albert Street, Dundee (replaced by the Royal Dundee Liff Hospital and now demolished) Stark designed a rather plain, H-plan building with a five-bayed, two-storeyed centrepiece flanked by two-bayed, three-storeyed pavilions. A single-storeyed wing of single rooms on either side was designed to accommodate four different classes of patients, including pauper lunatics and private patients. The central block provided the necessary public rooms, including day rooms, workrooms, offices for administration, store rooms, and the matron's and medical superintendent's apartments. The whole design was symmetrical, with male patients accommodated in the western half of the building (left), and female patients in the eastern half (right). The asylum was built on a site 'situate about a mile and a half north of the town, above which it is considerably elevated, sloping to the south, where the soil is dry and the air is free and unconfined'. The building united all the important considerations of a lunatic asylum with neatness and balance, and classification of patients by sex, rank and symptoms. It had a ventilation system allowing the movement of both hot and cold air, an isolation wing for 'noisy patients', 'airing' yards, and offered a high degree of freedom and comfort as well as maximum security for its patients. Dundee Royal Lunatic Asylum was designed in 1812 by the architect, William Stark (1770-1813), and built solely with public funds. By 1819 it had been granted a Royal Charter, and in 1824, following the death of Stark, the design of the building was taken over by the architect, William Burn (1789-1870). Burn modified Stark's plans to cope with the increased number of lunatics requiring admission, but his plans were curtailed in 1839 when only half of his designs had been completed. The asylum was replaced by Royal Dundee Liff Hospital in 1882, and the main part of the building survived into the 1960s as Barrie's Lemonade Factory before being demolished. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/755785

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap