|
Listing: 1845 by Edward Banks. Edward VII Memorial Wing, 1912.
Classical style. The hospital was the first major commission of a notable
Wolverhampton architect.
Literature: Neil Fox, A History of the Royal Hospital, privately
published, nd [c.1999?]. And see Neil Fox's account on this
website: click
here.
Comment: The first major hospital in Wolverhampton it had a natural
importance to the town not only for its medical services but for its community
involvement in its fund raising activities. Over time its site had many
accretions, some of which seem to have architectural merit in their own right.
Since the hospital moved out to New Cross the site has been
embroiled in development machinations. The city council
decided that only one more supermarket in or near the town centre
was needed and, although the Royal site was shortlisted it lost out,
in their opinion, to the Raglan Street site. Sainsbury's got
that site and are going ahead with a large scale plan to redevelop
that area. Tesco have now got this site and produced a plan to
build a supermarket near by and to turn the main part of the Royal
into residential accommodation. Nobody liked it much and they
went away to think again. That was two or three years ago and
nothing has been heard (officially) since. Tesco clearly have
a problem fitting their requirements on to the site whilst
preserving the listed buildings. Even if they manage to do it,
they will also have a problem with the council, who seem not to want
a superstore here. You can follow this saga and get further details
in the News section of this site. In the meantime, we all live
in hope - but increasingly little hope - that something will be done
about this very important site, both for the benefit of the historic
buildings and for the benefit of the much deprived All Saints area.
|
