A wee bit of history shamelessly stolen from another website;
'This poorhouse, which also contained asylum accommodation for the mentally ill, was built to replace an earlier poorhouse in Greenock which had been condemned in the early 1870s. Originally built with 3 wings, the one to the West was demolished in the mid 20th century. The remaining wing to the East was originally the asylum with the wing to the North housing offices. The asylum housed 150 patients, and there were 450 paupers in the poorhouse. Each of the units had separate dining halls in the centre of the complex. All were under the supervision of a governor and resident doctor. To the West was the infirmary and it provided accommodation for 100 patients. Larger poorhouses, such as this one, often had adjoining infirmaries to house the sick. Further to the West, and detached from the infirmary, was a contagious ward which was demolished in the mid 20th century. A number of service buildings for the poorhouse are incorporated into the original plan and are situated in the courtyard and to the South. The cost of the building was £80,000 and this expense was criticised by some contemporaries who referred to it as "The Palace of the Kip Valley". During WW1 a section of the building was used for military casualties. After 1930 it became a Poor Law Hospital. In 1939 the Admiralty took over the premises and in 1941, it became the UK headquarters of the Canadian Navy and known as HMCS Niobe. With the advent of the National Health Service in 1948 the building became known as Ravenscraig Hospital and latterly provided care for the elderly and mentally ill. The building is currently predominantly Health Service office accommodation (2008). The former infirmary wing is currently disused. Although some parishes in Scotland had poorhouses before 1845, it was after the Poor Law (Scotland) Act of that year, that most of the poorhouses were built. A requirement of the 1845 law was that inmates should be segregated into male and female and this segregation continued into differentiating between the deserving and non-deserving poor. In 1847, a model plan for poorhouses was published by the Board of Supervision. This encouraged an H-plan layout, which many of the poorhouses followed. By the 1870s, larger poorhouses, such as this one had separate areas for a poorhouse, an asylum and an infirmary. The plan for these larger institutions was necessarily more complex, although the same basic arrangement existed and the Greenock poorhouse shares a similar plan form to the Govan poorhouse in Glasgow of 1867 (now the Southern General Hospital), the Craiglockhart Poorhouse in Edinburgh, 1867 (now converted to flats) and Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, 1907-8 (see separate listings). Many of the other poorhouses built on this scale have been demolished'
The Explore;
Visited in April of this year with a non member. We've had our eye on this building for some time now as we were convinced it was a mortuary even though another Scottish buildings website had it listed as a public toilet!
I apologise for the lack of images but it is a tiny building and pretty much all that's left in it is the fridge and the tables.
Enjoy!
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'This poorhouse, which also contained asylum accommodation for the mentally ill, was built to replace an earlier poorhouse in Greenock which had been condemned in the early 1870s. Originally built with 3 wings, the one to the West was demolished in the mid 20th century. The remaining wing to the East was originally the asylum with the wing to the North housing offices. The asylum housed 150 patients, and there were 450 paupers in the poorhouse. Each of the units had separate dining halls in the centre of the complex. All were under the supervision of a governor and resident doctor. To the West was the infirmary and it provided accommodation for 100 patients. Larger poorhouses, such as this one, often had adjoining infirmaries to house the sick. Further to the West, and detached from the infirmary, was a contagious ward which was demolished in the mid 20th century. A number of service buildings for the poorhouse are incorporated into the original plan and are situated in the courtyard and to the South. The cost of the building was £80,000 and this expense was criticised by some contemporaries who referred to it as "The Palace of the Kip Valley". During WW1 a section of the building was used for military casualties. After 1930 it became a Poor Law Hospital. In 1939 the Admiralty took over the premises and in 1941, it became the UK headquarters of the Canadian Navy and known as HMCS Niobe. With the advent of the National Health Service in 1948 the building became known as Ravenscraig Hospital and latterly provided care for the elderly and mentally ill. The building is currently predominantly Health Service office accommodation (2008). The former infirmary wing is currently disused. Although some parishes in Scotland had poorhouses before 1845, it was after the Poor Law (Scotland) Act of that year, that most of the poorhouses were built. A requirement of the 1845 law was that inmates should be segregated into male and female and this segregation continued into differentiating between the deserving and non-deserving poor. In 1847, a model plan for poorhouses was published by the Board of Supervision. This encouraged an H-plan layout, which many of the poorhouses followed. By the 1870s, larger poorhouses, such as this one had separate areas for a poorhouse, an asylum and an infirmary. The plan for these larger institutions was necessarily more complex, although the same basic arrangement existed and the Greenock poorhouse shares a similar plan form to the Govan poorhouse in Glasgow of 1867 (now the Southern General Hospital), the Craiglockhart Poorhouse in Edinburgh, 1867 (now converted to flats) and Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, 1907-8 (see separate listings). Many of the other poorhouses built on this scale have been demolished'
The Explore;
Visited in April of this year with a non member. We've had our eye on this building for some time now as we were convinced it was a mortuary even though another Scottish buildings website had it listed as a public toilet!
I apologise for the lack of images but it is a tiny building and pretty much all that's left in it is the fridge and the tables.
Enjoy!
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