The first chief physician was
Dr William Battie who was renowned as 'an eccentric humorist'. He believed 'the patients of this hospital shall not be exposed to publick view.' Medical treatment consisted of cold plunge baths to shake lunatics out of their insanity. A system of non-restraint was professed, however manacles and other restraints were sometimes used. It was designed by
George Dance the Elder in 1750–01; after his death his son
George Dance the Younger succeeded him as surveyor to the hospital. It was originally built for 25 patients, but was enlarged and by 1771 was overcrowded. A decision was made to build a larger hospital on a new site. The design was
put out to competition, which was a novelty at the time. None of the competition entries were successful however, and Dance was asked to design the new building. which had a central entrance, with the male wards to the left and female wards to the right. The building was demolished in 1963. In 1922 it was suggested that a psychiatric unit should be instituted by the original St Luke's charity in cooperation with a general hospital. This led to the funding by the charity of both an out-patient clinic and a psychiatric in-patient ward at the
Middlesex Hospital. A new St Luke's, the third, was opened at Woodside Avenue,
Muswell Hill, in 1930 by
Princess Helena Victoria. This was variously known as Woodside Nerve Hospital, St Luke's Woodside Hospital for Functional Nervous Disorders and from 1948 as St Luke's Woodside. In 2011 the
NHS Trust responsible for St Luke's Woodside,
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, successively closed all wards, leaving open only an occupational therapy unit and effecting
closure by stealth without the consultation process required of formal closure proposals. The site was then put up for sale. ==Notable patients==