Towers Hospital

The Towers Hospital was a mental health facility in Humberstone, Leicestershire, England. The administration building, which became known as George Hine House, is a Grade II listed building.^[1] The property, which was originally a home on a family estate owned by the Broadbent family was transformed into what would become the hospital after being sold to the Leicester Borough Council in 1862.^[2] Adjacent to the main building is Benjamin Court which is named after the original owner, Benjamin Broadbent.^[3]

The site chosen for the hospital had previously been occupied by Victoria House (of which the main block still remains), the former home of Benjamin Broadbent, a leading businessman, master builder, and architect, whose works were well renowned across the Midlands at the time.^[2] He built a house on the site in the late 1850s, and moved in in early 1860.^[3] Following his death in 1862, his son Benjamin Jr. sold the house and 30 acres of land to the Leicester Borough Council for £8,000. The house had to be demolished due to dry rot, and the grounds were used for the Leicester Towers Hospital.^[2]

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.^[4] An extension to the male ward, designed by George Thomas Hine, was completed in 1883 and a corresponding extension to the female ward, also designed by Hine, was completed in 1890.^[4] A bath house, also designed by Hine, was added in 1913.^[4] The facility became the Leicester City Mental Hospital in the 1920s.^[4] Three detached villa properties, built in the 1930s, were made available to the Emergency Medical Service during the Second World War.^[4] The facility joined the National Health Service as the Towers Hospital in 1948.^[5]

After the introduction of Care in the Community in the early 1980s, the hospital went into a period of decline and closed in April 2013.^[4] The administration building, which became known as George Hine House, was converted for use as a Sikh free school in 2014.^[6] Several of the other buildings, including the original main block with superintendent's residence above, have been redeveloped for residential use.^[4]