Towers Hospital

Towers Hospital
Towers Hospital
	Original main block with superintendent's residence above, Towers Hospital
	Shown in Leicestershire
Geography
Location	Humberstone, Leicestershire, England
Coordinates	52°38′59″N1°05′28″W / 52.6498°N 1.0911°W Coordinates: 52°38′59″N1°05′28″W / 52.6498°N 1.0911°W
Organisation
Care system	NHS
Hospital type	Specialist
Services
Emergency department	N/A
Speciality	Psychiatric Hospital
History
Founded	1869
Closed	2013
Links
Lists	Hospitals in England

Last updated April 21, 2019

The Towers Hospital was a mental health facility in Humberstone, Leicestershire, England. The administration building, which became known as George Hine House, is a Grade II listed building.^[1]

Humberstone & Hamilton electoral ward of the unitary authority of Leicester

Humberstone & Hamilton is an electoral ward and administrative division of the City of Leicester, England. It comprises the north-eastern Leicester suburbs of Humberstone, Humberstone Garden City, Hamilton and Netherhall.

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, and Derbyshire to the north-west. The border with most of Warwickshire is Watling Street.

A listed building, or listed structure, is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland.

History

The site chosen for the hospital had previously been occupied by Victoria House, the former home of Benjamin Broadbent, a master builder.^[2] The hospital, which was designed by Edward Loney Stephens using a corridor layout with compact arrow additions, opened as the Leicester Borough Lunatic Asylum in September 1869.^[3] An extension to the male ward, designed by George Thomas Hine, was completed in 1883 and a corresponding extension to the female ward, also designed by Hine, was completed in 1890.^[3] A bath house, also designed by Hine, was added in 1913.^[3] The facility became the Leicester City Mental Hospital in the 1920s.^[3] Three detached villa properties, built in the 1930s, were made available to the Emergency Medical Service during the Second World War.^[3] The facility joined the National Health Service as the Towers Hospital in 1948.^[4]

Benjamin Broadbent (1813–1862) was an English master builder, stonemason, and architect. In 1840 in Leicester, he formed the company Broadbents Ltd, a busy which serviced builders' merchants and roofing contractors. He was also associated with Broadbent and Hawley, stone and marble masons and gravestone cutters. Broadbent built his home, Victoria House, in 1861 in Humberstone. The large estate included a mansion house, stables, coach house, winery, orchard, conservatories and outbuildings. His wife was Mary and they had six children. Three years after his death, the property was purchased by the Leicester Corporation to establish the Leicester Borough Asylum, which became the Towers Hospital.

George Thomas Hine FRIBA was an English architect. His prolific output included new county asylums for Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Surrey, East Sussex and Worcestershire, as well as extensive additions to many others.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in April 2013.^[3] The administration building, which became known as George Hine House, was converted for use as a Sikh free school in 2014.^[5] Several of the other buildings, including the original main block with superintendent's residence above, have been redeveloped for residential use.^[3]

Care in the Community is the British policy of deinstitutionalization, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional care was the target of widespread criticism during the 1960s and 1970s, but it was not until 1983 that the government of Margaret Thatcher adopted a new policy of care after the Audit Commission published a report called 'Making a Reality of Community Care' which outlined the advantages of domiciled care.

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References

↑ Historic England. "Former Towers Hospital (1376811)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 20 April 2019.
↑ "The Early Years". Leicestershire County Council. 12 August 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Towers Hospital". County Asylums. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
↑ "Towers Hospital". National Archives. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
↑ "George Hine House to become Leicester Sikh free school". BBC. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2019.

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[1] Historic England. "Former Towers Hospital (1376811)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 20 April 2019.

[2] "The Early Years". Leicestershire County Council. 12 August 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2014.

[county-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Towers Hospital". County Asylums. Retrieved 20 April 2019.

[4] "Towers Hospital". National Archives. Retrieved 20 April 2019.

[5] "George Hine House to become Leicester Sikh free school". BBC. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2019.