St Nicholas Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne

As Newcastle upon Tyne did not have a hospital for mentally ill patients of its own,[2] a new asylum was proposed in Coxlodge, where a 50-acre (20 ha) farmstead known as Dodd's Farm[3] was purchased. In 1864 initial plans were drawn up, and William Lambie Moffatt was appointed architect.[4] The facility opened as Newcastle upon Tyne Borough Lunatic Asylum in July 1869 and became the Newcastle upon Tyne City Lunatic Asylum in 1882.[5] Some of the first patients were transferred from Bensham Asylum as Durham County Magistrates had refused to renew the contract of that facility.[6]

In 1884 permission was granted to extend the hospital, and the East and West Pavilions were completed in 1887. These allowed an additional 80 patients to be admitted.[7] The asylum steadily grew, with more buildings were erected. During the First World War the patients were evacuated and the hospital became Northumberland No. 1 War Hospital for wounded soldiers, who were brought there by train. The facility reverted to serving as an asylum again in 1921.[8] In 1948 the National Health Service took over the hospital and changed the name to St Nicholas Hospital.[5]

A new admissions unit called the Collingwood Clinic was opened in 1956.[9] The site of the former Collingwood Clinic was sold in the 1990s and is now used by Virgin Money.[10] Part of the original asylum was sold in the late 1990s and converted into housing, now known as Lanesborough Court.[10]

In 1986 a church that had been located within the hospital grounds burned down.[11] The area used by the church is now occupied by the 1994-built Ashgrove Nursing Home.[11]

Work to build an extension, the Bamburgh Clinic, on the site of a former fish factory,[12] at a cost of £22 million started in November 2004 and was completed in April 2006.[13] The new clinic is bordered by residential properties and a Northumberland Wildlife Trust wildlife centre and office.[14]

In 2009 the Greentrees unit and the Lennox Ward were renovated at a cost of circa £8 million. The renovation of these Victorian hospital buildings was one of eight projects short-listed from 20 entries for the Best Design in the Community Benefit category of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors North-East Renaissance Awards.[15]