Where in the UK is this building? 1918/1919

[smclaren]

Hi Guys

Have this photo from my Grandfather's WW1 collection ... but with no supporting commentary provided. 

Hoping GWF UK based Pals can help tell me where it is located ? 

You can see Kiwi soldiers posing in the front of the building for the photo. It's too grainy to confirm if one of them is my grandfather, but possibly chap on the left ? 

Pretty sure this would have been taken sometime after his front-line service was completed in February 1918 ... with him spending the next 18months in the UK getting a commission and then de-mob'ing back to NZ.

Some options from his diary include Oxford, London, Portsmouth, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen. 

Any assistance greatly appreciated ... and feel free to ask questions.

Steve

Edited 27 October , 2021 by smclaren

[CharlesPeter]

I am afraid I cannot tell you what or where this building is but are you certain it is in the UK? It looks to me to be overseas based on the style of architecture. Where might your grandfather have stopped off on the way back home?

The building could be a very large hotel or railway terminus but I think it is probably a hospital. I base this on the position of the blinds at the windows on the 2nd and 3rd floor windows - all roughly the same height as you might expect for long wards. It looks like floor 4 on what I take to be the front elevation has an open balcony - perhaps with people standing on it.

The much lower range on the right of the photo has the look a different function. If you enlarge the image you might start to see what could be shop fronts  but it was the area reproduced below that caught my attention.  Is this an entrance and if so are there two large statues above the door or is my imagination running away with me?  Someone might be able to help based on such a detail. Perhaps a  church?

I have used the Google image search facility to see if it throws up any likely candidates. It returns lots of late 19th century grand buildings of a similar nature to your photo in both Europe and the US but nothing definitive.

Good luck with your search.

[Michelle Young]

Could it be St Andrews old golf course hotel?