Proposed St Mary's Hospital, Oxford Street and Whitworth Street, Manchester

The need to replace the Hospital in Quay Street with new and improved facilities was recognised within thirty years of its opening in 1856. However, the scheme was beset with difficulties and a further eleven years would elapse before work on the foundations of the new building began. Alfred Waterhouse was appointed architect about 1891 and shared many of the frustrations of the Hospital Board. {See separate entry for St Mary’s Hospital Oxford Street, Whitworth Street]

At the annual meeting of 1884 Duncan Matheson noted “When the (Quay Street) hospital was erected, no doubt the internal arrangements were considered in advance of any kindred institution in Manchester; but during the last twenty years, as the sanitary laws had been better understood, a revolution had taken place in hospital architecture; physicians called out for purer air and roomier wards. They had, therefore, the serious problem before them at no distant day, of either extending and reconstructing their present building or removing to a more salubrious quarter and erecting a new hospital. ….. It did not appear to him a formidable matter in our day to found a larger, a more complete and scientifically arranged building to meet the wants of the ever-increasing claims of suffering women and children.” [Manchester Guardian 5 February 1884 page 3]

By 1887 the needs of an increasing population made a material extension of the hospital essential. The hospital no longer served just the population of Manchester and Salford, but during that year had received patients from many parts of Lancashire and Cheshire, from Blackpool in the North to Nantwich in the south. fund raising commenced with donations promised. Efforts to raise funds for a new hospital continued throughout 1888 and 1889

In passing under review the labours in which they have been engaged the Board have especially to record the position of anxiety and responsibility in which they have been placed in connection with the projected building of the new hospital. It was stated in the last report that a site in Oxford-street and Gloucester Street had been purchased and paid for, at a cost £15500, and thereupon A. Waterhouse RA. as architect was conferred with for the preparation of plans, and in conjunction with the Medical Committee the Board discussed and determined upon a scheme of construction, on which the plans were subsequently prepared and adopted. It was at this stage, when everything had been matured and the Board were in full expectation of an early commencement of the work, that a notice received from the Manchester Corporation defined a new building line to be observed, or, in other words, that the line of building fronting Oxford-street should be "set back" two yards, and the Gloucester-street corner cut off, or "canted," to form a square frontage in the place of an angular corner to the building. This notice was dated 29th April 1891, and plans were therefore altered conformably with this instruction; when a further order, under date December 3 1891 - or eight months subsequent to the receipt of the first notice - was received, in which it was directed the building line in Gloucester-street must be set back two yards along the line of the present frontage, the effect of which was to destroy all previous calculations of space and accommodation, and so materially to diminish the area of the site as to create grave doubts whether it could be utilised for the new building. [Manchester Guardian 12 April 1892 page 9]

After a painfully protracted delay in the settlement of preliminaries for the erection of the new hospital; it is now with a sense of relief that the Board are enabled to state that the obstacles in their path have been surmounted, an amenable settlement has been arranged as between the Board and the Corporation. There is now, therefore, no impediment to interfere with the commencement of the building, on the site already acquired in Oxford-street and Gloucester-street. The adoption of final plans of the building, and the devising of the most approved methods of hospital construction, have engaged the anxious consideration of the Board, together with the assistance of the Medical Committee. Hospitals of the most recent construction have been visited, and communications have been made with the most experienced authorities. The Board, relying on what has been done, look forward hopefully to the erection of a hospital which, under the supervision of Mr. Waterhouse, the eminent architect, will receive public approval, and bestow to a much larger extent relief to the suffering and afflicted among the poor and necessitous in this city and the neighbouring borough of Salford. [Manchester Guardian 18 April 1893 page 9]

ST MARY'S HOSPITAL, MANCHESTER. Builders desirous of tendering for the NEW HOSPITAL BUILDINGS in Oxford-street and Gloucester-street, Manchester, are requested to send their names and addresses not later than Monday October 30 to the architect. ALFRED WATERHOUSE & SON  20 New Cavendish-street, London W. Manchester Guardian 21 October 1893 Page 3 (Contracts)

The hopes of the Board were to prove premature. The dispute with Manchester Corporation regarding the new building line was eventually submitted to arbitration where a settlement was finally reached. Amended plans were produced but much time had been lost. A further and more prolonged delay occurred, in view of the promised grant of money made by the trustees of David Lewis, and, as a result of the negotiations which ensued on a proposed amalgamation with the Manchester Southern Hospital the plans were again amended. The long delay which had intervened was, however, now at an end, In 1898 the Board were at last able to announce that the building of the new hospital was actually in progress and the excavation of the foundations in active operation.  [Manchester Guardian 1 November 1898 page 12]

Reference        Manchester Guardian 5 February 1884 page 3
Reference        Manchester Guardian 15 March 1887 page 7 – annual report
Reference        Manchester Guardian 20 March 1888 page 6 – annual report
Reference        Manchester Guardian 12 April 1892 page 9
Reference        Manchester Guardian 18 April 1893 page 9
Reference        Manchester Guardian 21 October 1893 Page 3 (Contracts)