Summary
Hospital wing at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, built in 1892-1904 to designs by Sir William Emerson. It was in this wing that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.
Reasons for Designation
The Clarence Memorial Wing, a hospital wing at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, built in 1892-1904 to designs by Sir William Emerson, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its exuberant and eclectic late-Victorian design, combining motifs from Northern and Italian Renaissance architecture with English Baroque motifs
* the building is a good example of an English work by the distinguished architect Sir William Emerson, who mostly practised in India
* the interior retains areas of special interest, particularly to the ground floor, particularly to the entrance hall, corridors, and board room, whilst the planning of this area reflects its historic use for administration and the accommodation of senior staff; the principal and subsidiary stairs are also of note.
Historic interest:
* the Clarence Memorial Wing was the location of Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928, reflecting the history of St Mary’s as a research and teaching hospital;
* the gates contribute to the historic interest of the building, as a Second World War memorial to St Mary’s men who fell during that conflict, commemorated by a plaque on the building.
History
At the turn of the C19, the site of St Mary’s Hospital was largely undeveloped agricultural land that formed part of the Bishop of London’s Paddington Estate. In about 1801 the Bishop leased land for the construction of the Grand Junction Canal (completed 1805). He also granted permission for wider development from the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Three reservoirs were dug by the Grand Junction Waterworks Company and, by 1828, various streets had been laid out with terraced houses and warehouses including South Wharf Road, Pieschell Street, and Praed Street. Development of the Paddington area was intensified by the passing of the Birmingham and London Railway Bill in 1833; the first Paddington Station was completed in 1838. By the early 1840s, improvements to the local water supply made the reservoirs redundant and they were filled in, paving the way for a masterplan to redevelop the site.
The rapid population growth in the Paddington area in the early C19 had resulted in an initial influx of prosperous residents who mainly settled south of the canal. As the area to the north became more densely populated and industrialised, concerns were raised by wealthy residents about the spread of disease through their servants who generally lived north of the canal. This was combined with increasing public concern about disease and slum conditions in the mid-C19 and a general desire to address these problems through philanthropy. It was against this backdrop that appetite for a new hospital emerged.
The site of the northern, infilled reservoir was selected, and architect Thomas Hopper was chosen to design the new buildings because he offered his services free of charge. The foundation stone was laid by Prince Albert in June 1845 and construction began with an agreed price of £33,787. But the building work was beset by financial problems and protracted legal disputes, so the first building, now known as the Cambridge Wing, did not open until 1851. The Medical School, also designed by Hopper, followed in 1854. St Mary’s was the last of the great London voluntary hospitals to be founded, but the co-location of hospital and medical school was the first of its kind in the country.
Another element of the 1840s masterplan for the hospital was the Albert Edward Wing, extending from the south-west elevation of the Cambridge Wing, but this was not constructed until 1865-1867 due to lack of funds. The Mary Stanford Wing and Outpatients Department followed in 1884.
In the early 1890s, the hospital committee selected William (later Sir William) Emerson to design an additional hospital building. With its main frontage facing Praed Street, the Clarence Memorial Wing (named after the recently-deceased Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who had been treated by hospital staff) was intended to increase the presence and visibility of St Mary’s. Nonetheless, the main entrance remained that in the original hospital building, with use of the Clarence Memorial Wing entrance being restricted to officials, consultants, and important visitors. Emerson’s design was exhibited at the Royal Academy and published in The Builder (31 October 1896). The foundation stone was laid in December 1892, by the Prince of Wales, but the building was not completed until 1904 because of shortage of money; nonetheless, the out-patients’ department in the basement opened in 1898. Besides the out-patients’ department, the new wing contained offices and administrative rooms on the ground floor, with wards on the first and second floors, and accommodation for nurses and on the floors above (the original intention of including accommodation for medical students was not realised).
At first, however, the hospital had insufficient funds to open the wards, and an arrangement was made with the head of the hospital’s celebrated Inoculation Department, Sir Almroth Wright, that the wards be given over to research use initially, with laboratories on the first floor, and a research ward on the second floor. The other wards opened in 1907, but the connection with the research department continued until 1933. It was in the Clarence Memorial Wing that Alexander (later Sir Alexander) Fleming, undertaking bacteriological research in a small laboratory in the south-eastern part of the wing, discovered penicillin in 1928; the room in which the discovery took place became a museum in 1993.
The main frontage of the Clarence Memorial Wing survives largely as built, though an original central tower was removed at some time between 1947 and 1960; the Builder drawing also shows end cupolas. The sturdy perimeter railings have been replaced, presumably following removal during the Second World War. The building has received a number of post-war alterations and extensions to the rear, most notably the upward extension and partial rebuilding of the central rear wing, which took place in the 1950s. There have also been numerous internal alterations, including those brought about by the removal of the out-patients’ department to a new building. The later C20 has seen a number of ward refurbishment programmes.
The C20 saw further expansion of the hospital site, with Sir Edwin Cooper presenting a new masterplan in the 1920s with neo-Georgian style designs. This saw the opening of a new Medical School and Institute of Pathology and Research in 1933, followed by the Lindo Wing in 1937, which replaced part of the original Medical School. A new nurses’ home designed by Cooper and called Salton House was only partially constructed by the onset of the Second World War, and in 1951 it was completed as it stood in a reduced version of the original design. The Winston Churchill Wing designed by Collins Melvin Ward and Partners opened in 1959, and a new Outpatients Department followed in 1966. The last major redevelopment of St Mary’s was in the 1980s, which saw the construction of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Wing and the Paterson Centre, designed by Llewelyn Davies-Weeks, as well as the Albert and Victoria Ward, the Dumbell Ward, and the Jefferiss Wing.
Sir William Emerson (1843-1924), born in London, began his architectural training in 1861 with Habershon and Pite, before moving in 1865 to the practice of William Burges. Emerson went to India in 1866, initially to supervise the building of a school of art in Mumbai the designs for which he had worked on with Burges, which remained unbuilt. Emerson remained till 1869, designing Mumbai’s Crawford Market (1865-1871); his Indian practice flourished, and his work there includes the Cathedral (1869-1893) and Muir College (1872-1878), both in Allahabad, as well as the Nilambag Palace, Bhavnagar (1894-1895) and the Queen Victoria Memorial, Kolkata (1903-1921). Relatively few of Emerson’s designs for English buildings were realised – Emerson entered a competition design for the South Kensington Museum and his 1885 winning design for Liverpool Cathedral was never built. Besides the Clarence Memorial Wing, Emerson’s surviving English buildings include the church of St Mary and St James, Brighton (1877-1879) and Hamilton House, London (1898-1901). He was knighted in 1902.
Details
Hospital wing, built in 1892-1904 to designs by Sir William Emerson; the builders were Higgs and Hill.
MATERIALS: the street-facing elevations – south, west and east – are faced in ashlar at basement and ground-floor levels, and in red brick with ashlar dressings – deep modillion cornice, window architraves, and quoins – and loggias on the floors above. The roof is of slate, and on the front elevation contains two rows of dormer windows. There are tall brick stacks. The north elevation is faced in glazed brick up to and including second-floor level. The windows to the principal elevation are mainly timber sashes, with multi-pane upper frames; there has been some replacement. To the rear, the original windows are mainly timber sashes.
PLAN: the building is an E-shape on plan, consisting of a long west-east range fronting Praed Street, with wings projecting northwards to west, east and centre. At basement level the spaces between the wings are filled to create a rectangle, with just the central wing projecting. The Clarence Memorial Wing is connected with the New Medical School via a first-floor bridge at the eastern end of the building; this bridge is considered to form part of the New Medical School, which has not been assessed (2025). At ground-floor level, the north end of the eastern rear wing of the Clarence Memorial Wing connects with the Cambridge Wing, and at basement level, the corridors of the Clarence Memorial Wing connect with those of the Cambridge, Albert Edward and Mary Stanford wings; only the Clarence Memorial Wing, as defined by the map which forms part of this List entry, is listed.
EXTERIOR: the late-Victorian building is in an eclectic style, combining eclectic Northern and Italian Renaissance motifs withn English Baroque. There are four main storeys, with basement, and two attic storeys. On the principal, south-facing elevation, the central five-bay entrance block breaks forward as a Classical frontispiece; the three central bays break forward again, with entrance, approached by steps, in a rusticated doorcase with pulvinated capitals, and a segmental pediment containing the royal arms; the double doors have a granite surround. To first and second floor are giant Ionic columns and piers and in the outer bays are arched openings, with oriel balconettes to the first floor. The entablature has ‘ST MARY’S HOSPITAL’ inscribed in the frieze, and with a balustraded parapet above. Above that, octagonal turrets flank a triangular-pedimented Dutch gable. To either side, a six-bay balustraded loggia fronts the first and second floors, with an arcade of single arches to the first floor and paired arches above. The console brackets supporting the first-floor balcony are enriched with the letter ‘C’ beneath a coronet. In the four-bay outer wings, the ground floor contains two oriel windows, each providing a balconet to a pair of first-floor windows; below the eaves is a tripartite window. Above the modillion cornice, which continues across the whole frontage, each outer wing is crowned by a segmental-pedimented Dutch gable. The foundation stone is set at street level in the western outer wing. An additional wing at the eastern end of the building forms a canted projection to the south topped by an ogee roof, creating the impression of a corner turret. Here, a circular ceramic plaque commemorates Sir Alexander Fleming, indicating the location of the room above in which penicillin was discovered. A stone tablet on the south-east corner relates to the Second World War memorial gates attached to the east (see SUBSIDIARY FEATURES below). The east elevation of this wing is distinguished by a complex recessed arched feature, springing from a ground-floor arcaded tripartite window, and rising through the first and second storeys, containing a pedimented tripartite window at first-floor level, and at second-floor level, a mullioned and transomed window beneath a keyed arch. This feature is reflected on the west elevation, where it contains a double-height canted oriel window. A doorway in the east elevation, now the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum entrance, originally gave direct access to the Inoculation Department facilities.
On the utilitarian north elevation of the building, the cambered-arched window openings are of bull-nosed brick, many of the tall first- and second-floors windows having fixed sections above single-pane sash frames; the smaller windows above have two-over-two sash frames. The original part of the central rear wing is stepped, rising to second-floor level to the south, and to first-floor level to the north, with a central square bay projecting to the north lighting the boardroom on the ground floor. Vertical extensions to this wing are excluded from the listing. The central wing has a canted bay window at basement level, surrounded by an area protected by iron railings. To the west of the central wing, the basement accommodation projects in an ashlar-faced block. A ventilation shaft rises against the main wing to the east.
INTERIOR: the entrance hall, approached by steps, is lined with marble to dado height; the doorways and windows in this area are framed by arches with emphatic keystones; there is a deep cornice and elliptical ceiling moulding. To the north, a marble balustrade, broken by steps, defines the course of the west/east corridor which runs to the rear of the main wing. The eastern part of the balustrade has been removed for the insertion of a pre-fabricated office structure. The corridor is lined to shoulder height with glazed bricks, with moulded tile skirtings and a floral border. Cast-iron radiators survive at intervals along the corridor. In the western part of the corridor, the original terrazzo floor surface remains; in the eastern part this is covered with lino. There are moulded window-cills and door architraves, with several original panelled doors surviving. On this floor, the rooms to the south were originally intended for senior members of staff: notably, the house governor’s sitting room was to the east of the entrance, and the consultants’ sitting room to the west of the entrance (with a tiled closet, originally presumably a WC), whilst the matron’s office and flat was to the east of that. These rooms retain some indication of their status, with arched tops to the window sashes, cornices, picture rails, skirtings, and panelled doorways; chimneybreasts are chamfered, though the majority of the building's simple chimneypieces have been removed. At the north end of the central rear wing is the boardroom, entered through a panelled mahogany doorway, with raised and fielded panels to the door. The board room has a projecting window bay to the north, framed by a false three-centred arch springing from pilasters; similar arches frame the eastern and western ends of the room. There is a trompe-l’oeil marble chimneypiece, and the ceiling is enriched by geometric plasterwork. To the south of the boardroom and forming part of a suite is the former house manager’s room, now subdivided. The principal stair occupies an open well within the south-east portion of the central rear wing: like other stairs within the building, found at the west and east ends of the main range, this has turned balusters beneath a mahogany handrail. The glazed brick walling continues up the main stairwell; window openings hold mahogany single-pane sash frames with curved internal corners. The first- and second-floor wards have been subdivided. The third and fourth floors, originally providing accommodation for nurses in a similar layout to the wards below, have also been subdivided, with wards on the third floor and offices on the fourth floor. Inspection was limited in these areas, but indicated – with supporting photographic evidence – a high level of alteration and modernisation with few historic features remaining; these areas are therefore considered to be of lesser interest. A large cupboard with metal doors, thought originally to have housed medicines, survives on the second floor. On the fifth floor (the upper attic storey), the narrower dormitory spaces have also been subdivided, here to provide offices; again this area is of lesser interest. In the easternmost wing, the second-floor southern room has been fitted out as a recreation of Alexander Fleming’s laboratory, forming part of a museum.
The basement of the Clarence Wing, originally the outpatients’ department, is accessed via a staircase on the south side of the building, to the east of the main entrance. This part of the building largely retains its original layout, though there has been subdivision in some areas. Surviving original features include glazed brick walling to shoulder height (now over-painted), glazed timber mahogany doors and window frames allowing for internal light distribution, together with glazed overdoor screens. The stairwell is enclosed by a glazed timber screen with a door; to the south of the stair is the former waiting area, originally open, but now subdivided. In this area columns can still be seen, bearing the letter ‘C’ beneath a coronet with the date ‘1897’; the columns are now partly enclosed by partitions. To the north-east is the pharmacy, with a glazed timber screen for controlled dispensing of medicines. There are brick vaults to the south-east, beneath Praed Street.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the building is surrounded to the south and west by an area, protected by replacement RAILINGS (in place by 1972), on a dwarf wall. The entrance and corners are marked by stone piers with ogival caps.
To the east, the building is connected with the New Medical School (which as noted above, has not been assessed) on the opposite side of Norfolk Place by cast and wrought-iron GATES, erected as a Second World War memorial. These are defined by stone piers, engaged to either side, with tall central piers flanking the roadway; the piers have fluted bands beneath projecting caps. The central gates, controlling vehicular access, are hung from side panels enriched with scrolled wrought iron; each gate has an elaborate central panel, one topped by ‘ST M’ and the other by the letter ‘H’. The outer gateways, controlling pedestrian access, have the same side panels, and simpler double gates. Beside the gates to the west, set into the building, is a stone plaque bearing the inscription, ‘THESE GATES WERE ERECTED / BY A FRIEND OF THE HOSPITAL / AS A MEMORIAL TO / ALL ST MARY’S MEN WHO FELL / IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR / 1939-1945’.
Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the vertical extensions to the central rear wing are not of special architectural or historic interest. However any works which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require LBC and this is a matter for the LPA to determine.
