Building Name

St Mary's Hospital, Oxford Road, Whitworth Park, Chorlton-on-Medlock

Date
1906 - 1909
Street
Oxford Road
District/Town
Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester
County/Country
GMCA, England
Architect
Work
New build
Listed
Grade II
Contractor
Robert Neill and Sons

Built on a site bounded by Oxford Road (previously Oxford Street), Hathersage Road (previously High Street) and York Place on land acquired by Manchester Southern Hospital in the 1890s. Described by Claire Hartwell as “Red brick and terra cotta, symmetrical and mildly Edwardian. Big domed towers at each end of a range with projecting gabled bays. Slightly angled blocks to the rear. Within the body of the building the upper floor chapel has an ornate hammerbeam roof and original furnishings, including a font.”[Hartwell; Manchester. Page 313]. 

Construction started early in 1907 and was completed by October 1909. However, a lack of funds for running costs prevented its opening until April 1911. By this time details the amalgamation with St Mary’s Hospital in Whitworth Street West had been resolved. The Hospitals Committee intended using the building in Whitworth Street West, as the out-patients department, and for maternity cases exclusively together with a teaching establishment for students and midwives. The beds for the women's and children's diseases were to be at the proposed new hospital in Oxford Road/Hathersage Road. 

In the late 1960s a new Maternity Hospital was built on land in Hathersage Road to the rear of the Oxford Road buildings and the hospital on Whitworth Street West run down and demolished. 

A new hospital for women and children is about to be erected at the corner of Oxford Street and High Street, Manchester, to accommodate 84 women and 27 children. The architect is Mr John Ely of Manchester. [Building News 13 July 1906 Page 42]

ST MARY'S HOSPITAL - A LARGE DONATION FOR HOSPITAL BUILDING - It has been announced for two years past that it was contemplated by the trustee of St. Mary's Hospital. to erect a hospital in High Street, Oxford Road, opposite to Whitworth Park, for the purpose of receiving cases of women and children. The work has been delayed through the legal formalities required by the Charity Commissioners before they confirmed and adopted the amalgamation of the two hospitals, St. Mary's in Whitworth-street West, and the Manchester Southern Hospital, Clifford-street, Chorlton-on-Medlock, which included the Maternity Hospital in Upper Brook-street. We are pleased to be able to state that the scheme has now been sealed and completed by Charity Commissioners, and preliminary steps have been taken Towards the erection of the new hospital in High Street, Oxford Road, which is most urgently required as cases are constantly rejected by the joint hospitals for want of space. The erection, which has been entrusted to Messrs. Robert Neill and Sons, is to begin forthwith, and when it is complete, we understand the Hospitals Committee contemplate using the building in Whitworth Street West, which is specially suited and adapted for the purpose, as the out-patients department, and also for maternity cases exclusively and a teaching establishment for students and midwives. The beds for the women's and children's cases will be at High Street, Oxford Road. The building will provide for 80 women's beds and 25 children's beds, in addition to the usual administration block. Mr. Edwin Reid, the surviving trustee of the estate of the late Manassah Gledhill, has, we understand, undertaken to provide out of that estate £50,500, or so much of it as may be necessary for erection of the new hospital buildings. The buildings will have to be equipped and furnished out of the ordinary funds of the joint hospitals, and money will have to be raised to adequately endow it. There is no doubt of the urgent requirement for new premises in place of the existing hospital in Clifford-street for women and children, but the income from subscriptions of the joint hospitals is very far from being sufficient to maintain the beds which will be in the new hospital. From last year's report it is clear the present income is insufficient to pay for the work which is now being done at the joint hospitals, and there is a large deficit to be met. [Manchester Guardian 24 November 1906 page 5] 

Construction started early in 1907 and was completed by October 1909.