Author Archives: Harriet Richardson

About Harriet Richardson

I am an architectural historian, currently a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, researching post-war hospital buildings in Scotland. From 1991 to 2018 I worked on the Survey of London. During the late 1980s and early 1990s I worked on surveys of hospital architecture in Scotland and England.

The Falkirk Ward

Posted on March 1, 2020

The Falkirk Ward was designed by the Department of Health for Scotland in the 1960s. It was an experimental ward, a prototype to be tested for its efficiency and flexibility. If successful, it was to be rolled out in the … Continue reading →

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Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital, Fife

Posted on November 30, 2019

Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital, photographed in October 2019 © H. Richardson The cottage hospital at Buckhaven opened on 28 August 1909. It was designed by Alexander Tod of Kirkcaldy for Lady Eva Wemyss in memory of her husband, Randolph Gordon Erskine Wemyss, … Continue reading →

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Victoria Hospital, Fife

Posted on November 3, 2019

Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, photographed October 2019. Looking north towards the 1960s tower block with the new ward block to the right. © H. Richardson Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, and Queen Margaret’s Hospital, Dunfermline, are the two main hospitals in Fife, serving … Continue reading →

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Two Highland Hospitals.

Posted on September 29, 2019

Only a few miles apart, there are two small hospital buildings both designed by W. C. Joass. Both hospitals are particularly fine examples of Victorian cottage hospital architecture in Scotland, typical of the diminutive scale of the earliest hospitals of … Continue reading →

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Brooksby House, Largs. From Yachting Residence to Seaside Convalescent Home.

Posted on June 30, 2019

For many decades, Brooksby House was the convalescent home for Glasgow’s Victoria Infirmary. The Governors of the Infirmary purchased this substantial villa by the sea-front at Largs in 1896 and it opened the following year with accommodation for 24 patients. Postcard … Continue reading →

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The Hospitals on Islay

Posted on June 2, 2019

Islay Hospital, Bowmore. View of the ward block and main entrance from the west. Photographed in May 2019, © H. Richardson There have been three hospitals on Islay: a poor law institution that provided medical care for paupers and in … Continue reading →

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Brechin Infirmary and St Drostan’s House

Posted on May 13, 2019

Prospect of Brechin (detail), by John Slezer from Theatrum Scotiae, 1693. Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland On a gloriously sunny day in April I visited Brechin, primarily to see the cathedral with its extraordinary round tower, but … Continue reading →

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