Development of the hospital The first Middlesex Hospital, which was named after the county of
Middlesex, opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in Windmill Street in 1745. The infirmary started with 15 beds to provide medical treatment for the poor. The foundation stone for the second Middlesex Hospital, in Mortimer Street, was laid by the hospital's president, the
Earl of Northumberland, in 1755. In 1930 a children's ward opened in the West Wing of the hospital. The
Bernhard Baron Ward, originally called the Babies Ward, was decorated with panels of
tiles depicting
nursery rhymes and pictures of trees, birds and animals. The tiles have been preserved in the
Jackfield Tile Museum at
Ironbridge Gorge. After coming under the management of the Bloomsbury Health Authority in 1980, the Middlesex Hospital became associated with various specialist hospitals in the local area. At the establishment of the then London University (now
University College London), the governors of the Middlesex Hospital declined permission of the former's medical students to use the wards of the Middlesex Hospital for clinical training. This refusal prompted the foundation of the North London Hospital, now
University College Hospital, in 1834. The
Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry of the Middlesex Hospital Medical School was opened by
Samuel Courtauld in 1928, the foundation stone having been laid on 20 July 1927. Its main entrance was in Riding House Street. Courtauld also endowed a Chair of Biochemistry. The medical schools of the Middlesex Hospital and University College Hospital merged in 1987 to form the University College and Middlesex School of Medicine (UCMSM). UCMSM itself merged with the
Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in 1998 to form the
UCL Medical School.
Broderip Ward and the Early AIDS Crisis The
Broderip Ward, named for 19th century benefactor
Francis Broderip, was the first ward dedicated to the care and treatment of people affected by
HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom. The Broderip Ward took its first patients in January 1987, and was officially opened by
Diana, Princess of Wales, on 9 April 1987. None of the patients agreed to be photographed with Diana at the opening of the ward due to fears of being publicly identified. Diana notably shook the hand of patients without wearing gloves on the ward. Diana subsequently visited the ward with the
First Lady of the United States,
Barbara Bush, in July 1991. Patients on the ward participated in the early trials of
zidovudine, and new antiretroviral medicines. The site of
the AIDS Memorial in London has been chosen for its proximity to the Middlesex Hospital and the
Bloomsbury Clinic.
Closure and redevelopment The Middlesex Hospital closed in December 2005. Candy and Candy failed in plans to redevelop the site into a 273-apartment luxury accommodation complex, named "NoHo Square", and transferred the property to the nationalised Icelandic bank,
Kaupthing Bank. The site was purchased by Clive Bush and Daniel Van Gelder's Exemplar Properties and Aviva Investors in July 2010. Exemplar decided against retaining either the Candy and Candy designs or the NoHo Square name, and instead appointed new architects in Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Sheppard Robson to prepare new designs. Following a public exhibition, a planning application for the proposed scheme was submitted in September 2011. Planning consent for the new development, now called
Fitzroy Place, was granted in February 2012. The new development, which combines 295 homes with of offices, including the regional headquarters for cosmetics multinational
Estée Lauder, was completed in 2016.
Fitzrovia Chapel Built between 1891 and 1892, the former chapel of the Middlesex Hospital by
John Loughborough Pearson is now the only surviving building of the hospital. The chapel was completed after the architect's death under the supervision of his son, Frank, also an architect. The chapel was structurally complete by the mid-1920s; the surrounding hospital was then demolished and rebuilt around it between 1928 and 1929. The chapel was not formally opened until 1929, by which time much of the lavish interior decoration of marbles and mosaic in a mix of Italian
gothic and
romanesque styles had been added, giving it the appearance it broadly retains today. The chapel is a Grade II*
Listed building. The fabric of the chapel was allowed to decline in the closing decades of the Middlesex Hospital, with water ingress through the roof causing substantial damage to the fabric of the building. The chapel fabric and interior was subject to a £2m restoration, and the building re-endowed with maintenance funds by Exemplar Properties. Never consecrated, named or dedicated, the chapel was given the name "Fitzrovia Chapel."
Paintings of Frederick Cayley Robinson For nearly 100 years, four giant paintings welcomed visitors to the reception area of the Middlesex Hospital. The
Acts of Mercy were painted in 1912 by
Frederick Cayley Robinson, a distinctive yet elusive British artist, after being commissioned by Sir Edmund Davis, one of the governors of the hospital. Prior to the demolition of the hospital, the art was purchased by the
Wellcome Library. ==Notable patients==