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Former hospital, originally the Banff District Asylum, no longer in use. The main building was designed by Elgin architects A and W Reid and opened in May 1865. As early as 1878 new accommodation was needed and a separate asylum, Woodpark Succursal Asylum was opened in 1880,and amalgamated with the main asylum in 1889. In 1884 a cottage hospital was built to care for cases of infectious diseases among patients and a separate villa for male patients designed by W and J Smith and Kelly was opened in 1903. Verandahs were also added in 1914 to further alleviate overcrowding. In the 1960s a new central section with recreational hall, dining room, shop and tearoom were added up the hill behind the original block and surrounded by new villas. The main building is a long mainly 2-storey block with a south face having 21 gabled bays. It is built of dark Rhynie stone with contrasting tooled sandstone ashlar dressings. It has a centre advanced and gabled 3-bay range of 2 storeys over a raised basement. It is lit by three large transomed and mullioned windows in each floor. There is a coped wallhead with outer bay gablets containing blind slits. A centre datestone bears the date 1864. The centre range is flanked on either side by long 2-storey ranges, each having two advanced and gabled wings with ground and segmental-headed first floor tripartites. The glazing is multi-paned throughout with some having horizontal panes. There are tall coped ridge and end stacks with the ridge at the east and west end crossings each having a platform which held a now demolished spire. The whole building is roofed with slates. A number of other large free standing blocks have been added over the years with auxiliary smaller blocks. To the northeast of the original asylum building is a farmsteading shown on historic OS maps. A photographic survey was carried out in April 2019 and a standing building survey was carried out on the steading by Murray Archaeological Services in September 2019. The building shown on the OS 1st edition map was part of the original design of the Asylum buildings. It is well built and has dressed sandstone margins and quoins. It appears to have housed stables for up to six horses and three cart bays, with a small bothy at one end. As the Asylum developed, the need for it to produce some of its own produce became recognised and by 1902 there was a complex series of buildings, of which what remains is only a part. The sequence of these later buildings is unclear. The documentary evidence indicates that cattle, pigs and occasionally horses were sold from the Asylum Farm, with the first Superintendent, Mr Donaldson, also regularly showing animals at the Banff Show. A grieve is also mentioned in the newspaper accounts, although it is clear from the accounts that much of the work was undertaken by the inmates.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)