The Towers Hospital was a mental health facility in Humberstone,

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, England. The administration building, which became known as George Hine House, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, 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, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The site chosen for the hospital had previously been occupied by Victoria House, the former home of Benjamin Broadbent, a master builder. 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. An extension to the male ward, designed by

George Thomas Hine George Thomas Hine FRIBA (1842–25 April 1916) 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. Bi ...

, was completed in 1883 and a corresponding extension to the female ward, also designed by Hine, was completed in 1890. A bath house, also designed by Hine, was added in 1913. The facility became the Leicester City Mental Hospital in the 1920s. Three detached villa properties, built in the 1930s, were made available to the Emergency Medical Service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The facility joined the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

as the Towers Hospital in 1948. After the introduction of

Care in the Community Care in the Community (also called "Community Care" or "Domiciliary Care") is a British policy of deinstitutionalisation, treating and caring for physically and mentally disabled people in their homes rather than in an institution. Institutional ca ...

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

References

{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1869 Hospitals established in 1869 1869 establishments in England 2013 disestablishments in England Hospitals disestablished in 2013 Defunct hospitals in England Former psychiatric hospitals in England Hospitals in Leicestershire