Detail of SE corner Digital image of E 8564 CN

Description Detail of SE corner Digital image of E 8564 CN

Date 21/4/2001

Catalogue Number SC 785523

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Detail of East Wing, Murthly Hospital, Perth & Kinross (closed 1984 and now demolished) This red sandstone, rubble-built, two-storeyed wing stands amidst extensive lawns. The end block is enlivened by an elegant Victorian lean-to conservatory, possibly a later addition, that was designed to provide a pleasant south-facing seating area for patients. The asylum was designed to accommodate patients in a homely, stable environment where light and fresh air were regarded as therapeutic and essential for the patient's well-being and cure. The ideal institution was seen as being 'a spacious building resembling the palace of a peer, airy and elevated, and elegant, surrounded by extensive and swelling grounds and gardens'. The 'sun and the air' was to be 'allowed to enter at every window' and 'the view of the shrubberies and fields....unobstructed by shutters and bars'. Murthly Hospital, designed by the Dundee firm of architects, Charles Edward & Thomas S Robertson, opened in 1864 as the Perth District Asylum for pauper lunatics. It was the second district asylum to open in Scotland, and in 1894 became one of the first to build villas within its grounds in an early attempt to provide accommodation for patients based on the colony or village system. The hospital closed in 1984 and is now demolished. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/785523

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap