Standish Hospital has been around the exploring scene in the UK for years, however almost all the buildings were full of alarms until very recently, which meant any visit had in the past was always a matter of restricting yourself to the few non-alarmed buildings at the rear of the site, and if you were feeling brave, a mad dash into one of the alarmed buildings to see how long you'd last before you got removed by security who were based inside one of the buildings in the middle of the site.
I paid my first two visits to this hospital back in the summer of 2012, back then it was watched over by a guard who didn't mind you wandering around as long as you promised to not go inside any of them - of course we did, but only the ones we knew weren't gonna get us turfed out! Back then the only parts you could do safely were the nurses accommodation block and attached small buildings and the mortuary/chapel of rest. However things change, and at some point the alarms had been switched off, and so recently I have gone back another two times to see as much of it as I can - there are still two buildings that have eluded me, for now, but I am happy with what I have come away with.
The hospital began life as a large manor house in private hands, however by the outbreak of the First World War it was vacant and then in 1915 was opened as a Red Cross hospital for wounded soldiers. After the war ended, the local council purchased the property and reopened it as a TB Sanatorium which, after refurbishment, opened in 1922. In 1939 a new dedicated male block was opened followed in 1947 by a new female & children block. In 1948 it became part of the newly formed NHS and with cases of TB in decline, was reformed as a specialist Orthopedic, Rheumatic and Respiratory hospital. In 1972 a hydrotherapy pool was constructed, and in 1974 new operating theatres were opened. The first plans to close the hospital came about in 1992, however the whole site hung on until 2004 when all services were transferred elsewhere.
Redevelopment began almost immediately after my second visit at the end of October, on leaving we noticed a handful of excavators gathered behind the manor house and within a week there was a whole load of equipment on site as well as a large amount of workers - as of now there is asbestos removal going on around the manor house area, and a whole load of undergrowth and trees have been cleared around the site. Work is continuing at a pace with workers all over the place, thankfully the redevelopment plans that were passed in 2017 included saving the manor house, the two original TB buildings and the brutalist 1970s hydrotherapy building.
I took most of my photos in the 1947 TB building, it's a gorgeous example of Modernist architecture and the decay in there is amazing thanks to it being full of alarms for so long.
Thanks for looking
I paid my first two visits to this hospital back in the summer of 2012, back then it was watched over by a guard who didn't mind you wandering around as long as you promised to not go inside any of them - of course we did, but only the ones we knew weren't gonna get us turfed out! Back then the only parts you could do safely were the nurses accommodation block and attached small buildings and the mortuary/chapel of rest. However things change, and at some point the alarms had been switched off, and so recently I have gone back another two times to see as much of it as I can - there are still two buildings that have eluded me, for now, but I am happy with what I have come away with.
The hospital began life as a large manor house in private hands, however by the outbreak of the First World War it was vacant and then in 1915 was opened as a Red Cross hospital for wounded soldiers. After the war ended, the local council purchased the property and reopened it as a TB Sanatorium which, after refurbishment, opened in 1922. In 1939 a new dedicated male block was opened followed in 1947 by a new female & children block. In 1948 it became part of the newly formed NHS and with cases of TB in decline, was reformed as a specialist Orthopedic, Rheumatic and Respiratory hospital. In 1972 a hydrotherapy pool was constructed, and in 1974 new operating theatres were opened. The first plans to close the hospital came about in 1992, however the whole site hung on until 2004 when all services were transferred elsewhere.
Redevelopment began almost immediately after my second visit at the end of October, on leaving we noticed a handful of excavators gathered behind the manor house and within a week there was a whole load of equipment on site as well as a large amount of workers - as of now there is asbestos removal going on around the manor house area, and a whole load of undergrowth and trees have been cleared around the site. Work is continuing at a pace with workers all over the place, thankfully the redevelopment plans that were passed in 2017 included saving the manor house, the two original TB buildings and the brutalist 1970s hydrotherapy building.
I took most of my photos in the 1947 TB building, it's a gorgeous example of Modernist architecture and the decay in there is amazing thanks to it being full of alarms for so long.
Thanks for looking
