Edinburgh, Seafield Street, Eastern General Hospital, Infirmary And Administration Block

NT 2846 7544 A programme of historic building recording was undertaken during December 2006 and January 2007 at the Eastern General Hospital prior to the partial demolition of the site for redevelopment. The Eastern General Hospital is on the coast at Seafield, and consists of a poorhouse built in 1906-7, later converted to a hospital. The hospital is first reported in 1918 and several later alterations and additions have transformed the

appearance, function and size of the original structures. However, the main elements of the original building and the layout remained virtually intact. The hospital closed in 2004.

Archive to be deposited with RCAHMS.

Funder: Montagu Evans.

OASIS-ID: aocarcha1-49353

NT 28466 75449

In 1907, following the closure of the North and South Leith Poorhouses, a new combined poorhouse and hospital was estabished at Seafield by Leith Parish Council. This was the last poorhouse to be built in Scotland. During the First World War the poorhouse was taken over by the military, which introduced an operating theatre and nurses' home. Further improvements during the Second World War allowed the hospital to cope with emergencies such as bombing raids. In 1948 the newly establsihed National Health Service assumed responsibility for the Eastern General Hospital which became the hub of health services in the east of Edinburgh. Most of the buildings on the site of the former hospital have been demolished. Only the central administrative building survives, albeit in a derelict condition. This building was recorded by RCAHMS following a fire (EAL) August 2007.