Whitchurch Hospital was built as the Cardiff Lunatic Asylum in 1902-1908 to the designs of G. H. Oatley and W. S. Skinner. It is a vast and labyrinthine complex, set within extensive grounds that once included farmland. It is built of red brick with yellow brick bands.The main entrance faces north across to the chapel (NPRN 97192). The entrance block is an ornate building with the board room on the first floor. It has classical details and bathstone dressings. Behind this the administration and service buildings form the core of the hospital with the wards ranged about the outside of great curving corridor. These face south to catch the sunlight. The hospital is dominated by a tall water tower and chimney tower, topped by a loggia with a copper dome.

There are five wards to either side and these each had separate exercise grounds or gardens, all contained within fenced ha-has, and featuring green octagonal garden shelters. The wider grounds had tree lined avenues or drives with a lodge at the entrance to the public road. Something of the grounds' development can be followed on successive editions of the OS County series mapping(Glamorgan. XLIII.1 1920-1940). Some buildings remain of Ty-clyd, the asylum farm.

The building was taken over by the military during the two world wars and was incorporated into the NHS in 1948. It remains a hospital.

Source: CADW Listed Buildings Database (11715, 11708-13)

John Wiles 11.12.07