General view of first-floor recreation hall from E Digital image of E 3892

Description General view of first-floor recreation hall from E Digital image of E 3892

Date 8/11/2001

Catalogue Number SC 776794

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Recreation Hall, Sunnyside Royal Hospital, Hillside, Montrose, Angus, from the east This magnificent hall, on the first floor of the central block of the hospital, is cross-shaped in form. Three great mullioned windows in pointed arch openings are set in the west-facing wall (centre), and the north (right) and south (left) arms of the cross are filled by a timber gallery and a stage respectively. The splendid cusped timber ceiling, supported by tie beams (horizontal beams) and cross ties (cross beams), is divided into compartments, each with much stencilled decoration including borders of fleur-de-lys. A large recreation hall was a feature of all asylums. The hall was often very elaborate and spacious, attempting to recreate the atmosphere of the great hall of a grand country house. It provided a room where staff and patients could meet informally, and where patients could engage in quiet individual pastimes such as reading, drawing or writing or take part community activities such as indoor sports, amateur theatricals or musical evenings. Most halls had a stage, and hosted weekly entertainments in the form of concerts, recitations and lectures. Patients who could play a musical instrument were encouraged to give recitals, and staff-patient orchestra groups were set up to entertain the other patients. Dances were held regularly, particularly at Christmas and Hallowe'en, and church services were held in the hall on Sundays. 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/776794

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap