As a hospital 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. 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. The hospital joined the
National Health Service in 1948. 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. After psychiatric services had transferred to the
Lanchester Road Hospital, the hospital closed in 2010.
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. Construction work began on the new scheme in May 2017 and was completed in August 2018. The 363-bedroom complex was sold prior to completion to
Unite Students, who operate it as Rushford Court.
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. 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. ==See also==