Building record 1796/1/6 - The Block for Idiot Children, St Crispins Hospital (now Keystone House)

Datestone of 1888. It is built of red brick with bands of yellow brick and some blue for ornamentation. It is a two-storey block with five bays in the centre and two bays at each end. Now converted to apartments.

{1} A new and revolutionary children's ward was attached to the women's ward early on in the asylum's development. This was built as a miniature version of the southern ward wings, and in closely matched architectural style, but as an indiviual building in its own right. The resultant building had miniature projections on both the north and south sides that copied the day rooms and WC blocks of the existing adult wards. Very little of the original fabric has been lost as later alterations were few. A date stone of 1888 was prominent on the south façade. A buff brick border, four brick courses deep, at window head height, ran around the building on the ground and first floors. This was repeated at windowsill height, again on the ground and first floors. The segmental window headers were a decorative feature and consisted of one central, large buff keystone brick, with seven alternating black and buff bricks to each side. The headers above the windows in the bays were slightly different in having a double brick pattern either side of the header. Blue engineering brick chamfer and foundation courses, the same height as other buildings on the site, were all on all elevations.

<1> Thorne A.; Foard A.; Lean S., 2003, Historic Buildings Recording of St Crispins Hospital, Upton, Northamptonshire, 2002, p.55 (checked) (Report). SNN103454.

<2> Thorne L.; Lean S.; Harding J., 2003, Historic Buildings Recording of St Crispins Hospital, Upton, Northamptonshire (Illustrations), Fig.23 (checked) (Report). SNN103455.

<3> Bailey, B, Pevsner, N, and Cherry, B, 2013, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p. 487 (Book). SNN111989.

Record last edited

Jun 5 2024 1:06PM