{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox building | name = Rushford Court | former_names = County Hospital, Durham | building_type = Student residence; formerly hospital (closed 2010) | owner = Unite Students | image = County Hospital Durham crop.jpg | caption = Rushford Court in 2019 | location_city = Durham | location_country = UK | number_of_rooms = 363 | pushpin_map = County Durham | namesake = Hannah Rushford, Mayor of Durham | pushpin_relief = <!-- any non-blank value (yes, 1, etc.) will cause the template to display a relief map image, where available --> | pushpin_mapsize = <!-- width of the map in pixels (do not include "px"); default is 225 --> | pushpin_map_alt = <!-- alternative text for map image, see WP:ALT for details --> | map_caption = Shown in County Durham | coordinates = {{coord|54.77859|-1.58472|display=inline,title}} | completion_date = 1853 | renovation_date = 2018 | website = https://www.unitestudents.com/durham/rushford-court | wiki-Links = <!-- optional --> }}
'''Rushford Court''' is a student residence and former hospital in Durham, England. It opened in 1853 as '''County Hospital''', and closed as a hospital in 2010 after services were moved to Lanchester Road Hospital on the outskirts of the city.
In 2018, after extensive work to demolish later additions to the hospital building and construct new accommodation blocks, Unite Students reopened the site as a privately operated hall for Durham University students under the name Rushford Court.
In 2019–20, Durham University used the site as a temporary home for its John Snow College, between the college's move from Queen's Campus in Thornaby-on-Tees and the completion of its new buildings at Mount Oswald. In the 2024–25 academic year, the site is housing the College of St Hild and St Bede while the college's historic site on Leazes Road, Gilesgate is redeveloped, with work taking place to provide a new college hub building at Rushford Court. After the College of St Hild and St Bede returns to its permanent site, the university plans to found a new college on the Rushford Court site.
==History== === As a hospital === thumb|left|An engraving of the hospital in 1866 The hospital, which was designed in the Elizabethan style and built at a cost of £7,500, opened in 1853, replacing a hospital on Allergate.<ref name=kelly>Kelly's Directory 1910</ref><ref name=cba /> The building was on an 'H' plan, with decorated gables, chimneys and a central bell tower, and was set in an open field with a terrace to the front.<ref name=dcc /> A convalescent wing financed by donations from Dean Waddington, and additional wards financed by John Eden, opened in 1867 and 1886 respectively.<ref name=kelly/><ref name=dcc>{{cite web|title=Planning Services Committee Report| url=https://democracy.durham.gov.uk/documents/s50074/County%20Hospital%20Durham.pdf|website=Durham County Council|date=March 2014}}</ref>
A freestanding building was added to the south of the hospital in 1914 to provide nursing accommodation, and an operating theatre on the east in 1919.<ref name=dcc /> A major proposal to expand the hospital from 50 to 204 bed was made around 1920, but not implemented.<ref name=cba /> In 1938, a substantial extension called the Rushford Wing, designed by Cordingly and McIntyre, was added to the front of the building, hiding much of the original frontage.<ref name=dcc /> The wing was named after Hannah Rushford, who would later be the city's first female mayor.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvSiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT31|title=Lost Durham|first=Michael|last= Richardson|year=2019|publisher=Amberley Publishing|isbn=978-1445691329}}</ref>
The hospital joined the National Health Service in 1948.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=323|title=Durham County Hospital, Durham|publisher=National archives|accessdate=26 September 2018}}</ref> In 1971, a major reorganisation of Durham's hospitals made Dryburn Hospital the city's main hospital, while County Hospital became a dedicated psychiatric facility.<ref name=cba>{{cite web|url=https://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/online-applications/files/80F858548FAE3C414F7AC6DFD3D01E22/pdf/DM_22_03247_FPA-HERITAGE_STATEMENT-3259841.pdf|title=Heritage Statement|author=A Croft|publisher=Chris Blandford Associates|date=12 October 2022}}</ref>
After psychiatric services had transferred to the Lanchester Road Hospital, the hospital closed in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|last=Tallentire|first=Mark |url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/council/durhamcountycouncil/10453107.Former_mental_health_hospital_sold_to_property_developers/|title=Durham's County Hospital sold to property developers|publisher=The Northern Echo|date=30 May 2013|accessdate=26 September 2018}}</ref>
=== As a student residence === In 2014 planning permission was sought to remove the 1930s additions, returning the main building back to its original state and adapting it to house 82 student studio flats, and to create additional new-build blocks to house another 281 student flats.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Stuome report |url=http://www.stuome.com/reports/2014/county-hospital-development |title=Viaduct Court (County Hospital) Development|accessdate=26 September 2018}}</ref><ref name=inspectorate /> Planning was refused by Durham County Council, due to the effect of the new buildings on the city's conservation area and on local residents, but this decision was overturned and planning granted by the Planning Inspectorate in March 2016.<ref name=inspectorate>{{cite web|url=https://publicaccess.durham.gov.uk/online-applications/files/6FB956A1E13129E5251378DC64A983C5/pdf/DM_14_03694_FPA-APPEAL_DECISION-1746281.pdf|first=Y|last=Wright|title=Appeal Decision|date=7 March 2016|publisher=The Planning Inspectorate|access-date=11 Feb 2023}}</ref>
Construction work began on the new scheme in May 2017<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sladenestates.co.uk/work-begins-transformation-former-county-hospital-student-accommodation/|publisher=Sladden Estates|title=Work begins on transformation of former County Hospital into student accommodation|date=3 May 2017|accessdate=26 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927005411/https://sladenestates.co.uk/work-begins-transformation-former-county-hospital-student-accommodation/|archive-date=27 September 2018}}</ref> and was completed in August 2018. The 363-bedroom complex was sold prior to completion to Unite Students, who operate it as Rushford Court.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sladenestates.co.uk/development/county-hospital-durham/|title=Rushford Court, Durham|publisher=Sladden Estates|accessdate=26 September 2018|archive-date=27 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180927050614/https://sladenestates.co.uk/development/county-hospital-durham/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=rushford>{{cite news|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17300785.durham-university-announces-plans-to-take-over-city-centre-accommodation/|title=Durham University announces plans to take over city centre accommodation|first=Rachel|last=Conner-Hill|work=The Northern Echo|date=17 December 2018|access-date=9 July 2019}}</ref>
=== Use by Durham University ===
During 2019–20, the site was used by Durham University to house John Snow College following the college's move from Queen's Campus in Thornaby-on-Tees, while the college awaited completion of its new buildings on the Mount Oswald site.<ref name=rushford />
In January 2023, Durham University announced plans to work with the owners to provide the full facilities of a Durham University college on the site,<ref name=hildbede /> accompanied by a planning proposal to construct an additional amenities building, set into existing terracing in front of the main historic building,<ref name=cba /> which was approved in April 2023.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/planning-construction-news/new-university-developments-secured-for-bam-and-unite-students/123914/|title=New university developments secured for BAM and Unite Students|date=3 April 2023|work=PBC Today}}</ref> The site will provide a temporary home for Hild Bede College from summer 2024, while that college's site at Leazes Road, Gilesgate, undergoes redevelopment. After the college returns to its permanent site, the university expects to found a new college on the Rushford Court site.<ref name=hildbede>{{cite web|url=https://www.durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-student-experience/colleges/st-hild-st-bede/about-us/future-development/|title=Future Development|website=College of St Hild and St Bede|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://thetab.com/uk/durham/2023/01/24/rushford-court-to-become-durhams-eighteenth-college-in-the-longer-term-51793|title=Rushford Court to become Durham's eighteenth college 'in the longer term'|author=Alice Martin|work=The Tab|date=24 January 2023}}</ref>
==See also== * List of hospitals in England
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Durham University}} {{authority control}}
Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1853 Category:Hospitals in County Durham Category:Defunct hospitals in England Category:Hospitals disestablished in 2010 Category:Buildings and structures in Durham, England