st. josephs orphanage/st. josephs hospital, preston

Id not been in here for a while and wanted to see how the old place was doing, i know there would be some damage from the fire but there was a ceiling that had collapsed as well in another part of the building. visited with BB. I have never been able to find much in the way of history on this place for some reason but i was contacted by a someone through flickr and they provided the history.

So a big thanks to Linda Barton, archivist, Preston Historical Society.

history:-
Many people mix these buildings up but essentially there are three different Grade 2 listed buildings.


Firstly St Josephs Orphanage, Theatre Street, built and opened 1872 by Maria Holland Trust and run by the Sisters of Charity our Lady Mother of Mercy, nuns that came from Holland to open and run the orphanage.

Secondly, St Joseph's Hospital, Mount Street, referred to by all the locals as Mount Street Hospital was opened in 1877 again by the Holland Trust and run by the same order of nuns. However, completely seperate building and, at no time in its existence, was it an orphanage.

Thirdly, the R.C. Chapel on Theatre Street, designed by James Mangan and opened in 1910 was specially build by money raised for use by the Hospital and the Orphanage.

When the orphanage closed in 1954, the hospital took over the building and built a small link passage to link both buildings. The hospital used the orphanage building as a nursing school and it continued to be the convent for the order of nuns, as it had always been when it was an orphanage.

When the hospital closed in the 1980s all the three buildings were purchased by the present owner who then converted the Orphanage building into a private residential elderly peoples nursing home. No original features left in that building from when it was an orphanage. He did not use the Chapel nor the hospital building.

He also owns the 1930s extension on Mount Street and the 1950s extension on Theatre street which was the geriatric wing for the hospital. Planning application is in for conversion to apartments, but doubts have been raised whether this will happen. The buildings are deteriorating badly and I fear for their future. Grade listing doesn't really protect them from neglect and potential destruction.

Note that the hospital and the orphanage were run and administered as completely separate institutions even though both were run by the same order of nuns and funded by Maria Holland nee Roper.

first time i got a good pic of the stain glassed window!

left in the back of the chapel

no trip is complete without a trip to the theater

one thing about here is it never fails to creep me out beyond belief! you are forever hearing what sounds like footsteps just behind you.

fire damage from last year i think, this was the room with the pool table in it! remains now on corridor of floor below.

these wheel chairs are all over the place!

some relaxing!

and to finish off a pic of the outside from the inside! :)

st. joes orphanage, preston 11/7/08

went along to what now is one of my fave places (which ain't hard as not been to all that many!!). went along with snowdudejohn (northwest exploration) first time we had met and a place he was really wanting to do so instead of forwarding details went along with him on my morning from work!

access was same as ever, and first port of call was the chapel only took a couple of pics in here as got so many!

after the chapel went on a wander around the rooms on the right hand side of the building, and did some corridor shots, looking at the pic below the electricity is still on.

here is one of the many signs you see in the place, don't know why 246 but there every where in the building, look like they light up but for what i don't know!

up in the attic of the building with the theater in it

and here is me having a go at HDR, first time at it! but its not that hard! :)

didn't spend to long inside as on the way back to the main building we crawled through a hole in the wall and someone had blocked it back up with a board! from the other side. so i went dumped my kit and went back to the chapel to look through the window at the main gate, it was open and there was 2 cars and a ladder! the had been inside but we had to go!

i went back to snowdudejohn we moved the board as quiet as possible, got the kit through and slowly made are get away! the hole they blocked up was just around the corner from the main door! we made are way out on a promise to return again soon!