Maple Convalescent Home

From "The Lady's Pictorial" June 12th 1897

Maple Convalescent Home
E Meadows

A contemporary account of Sir John Blundell Maple’s provision for the welfare of his employees.  See also Akrill House.

We have very great pleasure in giving the accompanying illustration of the Maple Convalescent Home for the temporarily invalided, and Almshouses and Homes of Rest for the aged, or those of the employees and others connected with the great house in Tottenham Court Road who may have become incapacitated for business.

The homes, which occupy a somewhat elevated position, will enjoy all the advantages of the delightfully breezy and invigorating air of Hertfordshire, as well as command a pleasant prospect over the surrounding country, with its winding lanes, park-like fields, undulating slopes, and tree crowned summits.

The Convalescent Home, of which we will speak first, is of the Elizabethan period, and has been designed by Colonel R W Edis F. S. A. , the lower storey being in red brick, while the upper portion is in warm red tile, the effect being very pleasing.

On the ground floor is accommodation for eight male convalescents; there is also a comfortable reading, writing, and conversation room, a light a cheerful mess-room connecting with a well appointed kitchen.  On this floor, too, is a private room, where residents can see and converse with visitors or friends; also hot and cold bath and lavatory accommodation.

On the upper floor, where are the quarters of the steward and matron, is accommodation for twelve female convalescents, each bed being, as on the floor below, fitted up with most comfortable and sanitary spring bedding.  On this floor too, is a small but well furnished private sitting-room for those whose cases may require perfect quietude and rest, while one of the bedrooms has a large balcony where patients may sit and enjoy the air.  Everything is up-to-date, and there is evidence on every hand how unstintedly the generous donor has developed his project.

The Homes of Rest are also built in the Elizabethan style.  There are in the building, which occupies three sides of a square, with a pleasant shrubbery in the centre, seventeen homes; and each home may be described as a miniature flat, each flat being self-contained, and having its living or sitting-room fitted with modern cooking arrangements, shelves, and other conveniences, while adjoining is a scullery kitchen, with water supply, and other facilities for domestic work.  In the centre of the block is a spacious recreation and reading room, where no doubt, in time to come many pleasant evenings will be spent.  At the rear of the Homes a plot of garden ground has been set apart for each resident’s own use and cultivation.  There is also a grass plateau for the exclusive use of the convalescents, who will also have the use of the terraced gardens in the front of the Home.

Besides giving the site, building both the Convalescent Home and the seventeen Homes of Rest, and entirely furnishing the Convalescent Home, Sir Blundell Maple is also generously investing a large sum towards the endowment.

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