Barnes Convalescent Home Kingsway Cheadle

The foundation stone was laid 29 July 1871 and the building was opened in October 1875. Total cost £52,000 of which Robert Barnes of Manchester (1800-71) contributed ,26,000. Connected to Manchester Royal Infirmary. A bust of Barnes by Noble was placed in the dining hall.

THE BARNES CONVALESCENT ROME, CHEADLE. On Saturday afternoon the foundation stone of the home for convalescents in connection with the Manchester Royal Infirmary, to be built by the munificence of Mr. Robert Barnes, was laid at Cheadle by Mr. Hugh Birley, MP. ...  The site of the institution is an estate of 23 acres, lying a short distance in a southerly direction from the Cheadle Railway Station. It is sufficiently elevated at once to make the proposed building a conspicuous object in the landscape and to command a wide prospect of this charming district of Cheshire. The ground floor level of the building will be about fifteen feet higher than the level of the London and North-Western Railway, which passes in front of the site, at a distance of 140 yards. A siding has been constructed from the railway to the yard now in use by the contractors. Between the site of the building and the railway is a fine clay bed, which is being used in the manufacture of bricks, to be used in the structure. The building will be divided through its entire length by a continuous corridor, 8 feet. wide in its narrowest, and l2 feet in its widest part. At both ends of the corridor there will be a covered way or carriage porch for the protection of patients during their arrival or departure. Abutting on the corridor, and communicating therewith through open archways, will be a winter garden 100ft. long, 60ft. wide and 40ft. high. This is intended to be an agreeable lounge for the patients in all sorts of weather, and for the further convenience of those unable to descend on to the ground floor; there will be a gallery 10ft. wide on all sides. At the level of the chamber floor, and from this gallery, there will also be balconies projecting into the chapel, so as to allow those to observe and take part in the services who might otherwise be unable to attend. At the outer end of the winter garden there will be a fernery built of an apsidal form, and outer balconies on a level with the galleries for the use of the patients in fine weather, and also two small rooms for their use in cold and wet weather. The dining hall and chapel will be 80 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 40 feet high, divided by an open screen, and will have seven windows in the outer wall side, and also corresponding windows on the other side looking into the winter garden. At one end of the chapel there will be a large four-light traceried window, and recessed panels on both sides for the reception of the commandment tables, &c. The centre block in front of the building will provide accommodation for the administrative department, and will consist of a committee room, pantry, matron's room, house surgeon's room, two spare rooms, lavatory, &c., on ground floor; bedrooms over same on chamber floor, and servants' bedrooms on the top floor of the building, which will in this part have an additional storey in height. There will be a large clock tower over the entrance, rising to a height of 105ft., having dials 6ft. diameter; and on the top a lead flat, with a flag- staff, &e., and surrounded with ornamental iron cresting. Near the administrative department will be the dispensary, waiting room, consulting room, linen store, servants' sitting room, and workroom. The remaining portion of the building on either side of the central block will be precisely similar, one side being for the women and the other for the men. It will therefore only be necessary to describe one half. On the ground floor, and contiguous to the entrance from the carriage porch, there will. be a nurses' room, communicating with and overlooking an acute ward, 38 feet long and 24 feet wide, for the accommodation of six patients, and on the opposite side of the corridor a day-room, 38 feet long and 24 feet wide, with two bay windows therein. The remainder of the front part of the building is sub-divided into dormitories, each 20 feet long and 11 feet wide, and designed for the accommodation of three patients in each. On the back side of the corridor will be a bathroom, lavatory, scullery, and other necessary conveniences, and also a large bay window, 25 feet wide, designed to assist the lighting and ventilation of the corridor. The arrangements of this part of the building will be precisely the same on the chamber floor as on the ground floor, and there will thus be provided dormitory accommodation for 120 patients. Two of the four large day rooms could, if re. quired, be used as dormitories for ten patients each; and the total accommodation would thus be brought up to 140, The wails will be built of bricks, and the corridors, winter garden, and chapel, will be lined with yellow bricks. The style of architecture is Gothic, of a domestic character, without any elaborate ornamentation. The bust of Mr. Barnes, by Noble, is intended to be placed in a niche at one end of the dining hall. The contract for the whole of the works required in the erection of the new building has been let to Messrs. Thomas Clay and Sons, builders, of Audenshaw, at a sum considerably below the amount the architects were authorised to expend. The terra cotta is to be manufactured by Messrs. Doulton. The architects are Messrs Blackwell and Booth, of this city, and the whole of the works are to be carried out under their superintendence.

A new Home and Industrial School, at Heaton Mersey, the entire cost of which, amounting to £12,000, has been defrayed by Mr. Robert Barnes, was on Wednesday formally opened by the Bishop of Manchester.

THE BARNES CONVALESCENT HOME, CHEADLE - THE attention of the Manchester public is just now being directed to the question of hospital construction generally, and the proposed removal of their own Royal Infirmary in particular. In view of the sweeping changes intended to be made in the Infirmary itself, we this week resent our readers with some evidence of the care and forethought of those who have recently, and up to this date, been engaged in promoting the true interests of the institution. Like many places of its kind, the Manchester Infirmary was found to be incapable of meeting the growing requirements of an industrial population such as is grouped around it, and the want of a convalescent hospital to be used in connection with it was forced upon the attention of those most intimately connected with the administration and its many requirements. The late Mr. ROBERT BARNES, who had for a long time been one of the trustees, generously came forward a few years ago, and offered to supply the money required to build a convalescent home for those patients whose condition would permit of their removal to a place where country air and other surroundings would be calculated to restore them to vigorous health more speedily than if left to the chance of recovery in the Infirmary itself. He accordingly placed a sum of £26,000 at the disposal of the Infirmary Board for that purpose, and the subject of our illustration is the result of his munificent charity. The site is a plot of land at Cheadle, in Cheshire, and situate within a few miles of Manchester. It contained in its original area about 28 acres, but has since had several substantial additions made it. The building provides accommodation for about 140 patients; and the necessary staff of nurses, &c. It is built of bricks made on the site, and stone has been used very sparingly. All the window heads, finials, etc., are of terra cotta, manufactured by Messrs. DOULTON & Co., of Lambeth. The whole of the inside woodwork is of pitch-pine, and the walls are plastered from the ceilings to within about 4 feet 6 inches of the floor line, from which point there is a cement dado. The architect, Mr. L. BOOTH, of King Street, Manchester, acted throughout in conjunction with Dr. REED, the resident medical officer of the Infirmary, and Messrs. THOMAS CLAY and Sons, of Audenshaw, were the general contractors. [The Architect 2 December 1876 page 325 with illustrations]

Reference     Manchester Faces & Places Volume 9 Page 6
Reference    Manchester Guardian 24 January 1871 page 8 - appointment
Reference    Manchester Guardian Saturday 29 April 1871 Page 6 (Contracts)
Reference    The Architect 2 December 1876 page 325 with illustrations