St. Mary's Hospital

St Mary's Hospital is an mental asylum in the small village of Stannington, Northhumberland. Originally know as The Gateshead or Stannington Mental Hospital.

Designed by the architects George Hine and Carter-Pegg, St Mary's has the capacity for 500 people.

Styled by George Hine, which was his last building project, in red brick with yellow banding, concrete lintels and grey roof slate boasting a great hall, admin block, isolation and general wards as well as six pairs of married staff cottages and farmland enforcing the self contained nature of the site.

St Mary's was requisitioned by the military almost as soon as it opened because of World War One. Around 1927 a nurses home was built and the isolation wards were converted into a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. Other improvements and changes were made in the 1930's.

During World War Two the hospital was again requisitioned with a few changes made including a hutted emergency medical services building to the north of the main building. After the war with the formation of the National Health Service the hospital changed its name to St Mary's and the hutted emergency hospital was converted to house mental defectives. A staff training school and more buildings providing social and occupational therapy were built.

Cost cutting, resettlement and closures led to loss of services and ancillary buildings being closed in the late 1980's and by 1995 the hospital was closed with facilities moving to Bensham general hospital.

The boiler house chimney has collapsed due to structural failure. All original buildings have been given grade II listings.

Most of the hospital was demolished in 2015 to make way for housing despite the grade II listing. However, some buildings remain in varying forms, which include the 34 former staff houses, known as The Villas, the former gate-keeping lodge, Chief Medical Superintendent's Home and the Administration block, which is now St Mary's Inn.