Circular Ward and Attached Ablution and Water Tank Tower at Former New End Hospital

CIRCULAR WARD AND ATTACHED ABLUTION AND WATER TANK TOWER AT FORMER NEW END HOSPITAL, NEW END

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1322108
Date first listed:
17-Oct-1986
List Entry Name:
Circular Ward and Attached Ablution and Water Tank Tower at Former New End Hospital
Statutory Address:
CIRCULAR WARD AND ATTACHED ABLUTION AND WATER TANK TOWER AT FORMER NEW END HOSPITAL, NEW END
User submitted image
Contributed by Roger Bowdler This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Over 400,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places. 

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Local Heritage Hub

Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.

Discover more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1322108
Date first listed:
17-Oct-1986
Date of most recent amendment:
11-Jan-1999
List Entry Name:
Circular Ward and Attached Ablution and Water Tank Tower at Former New End Hospital
Statutory Address 1:
CIRCULAR WARD AND ATTACHED ABLUTION AND WATER TANK TOWER AT FORMER NEW END HOSPITAL, NEW END

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
CIRCULAR WARD AND ATTACHED ABLUTION AND WATER TANK TOWER AT FORMER NEW END HOSPITAL, NEW END

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Greater London Authority
District:
Camden (London Borough)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
TQ 26407 85961

Details

CAMDEN

TQ2685NW NEW END
798-1/26/1194 Circular ward & attached ablution &
17/10/86 water-tank tower at former New End
Hospital
(Formerly Listed as:
HEATH STREET
Circular ward at New End Hospital)

GV II*

Hospital ward with attached ablution and water tank tower.
1884. By Charles Bell. Converted into residential use 1996-98,
John Thomson Associates, architects. Pale yellow/grey bricks
with pink brick bands and dressings. Slated roofs; pyramidal
with finial and bargeboarded lucarnes to tower and conical to
ward with gabled dormers and central octagonal brick
chimney/ventilation shaft.
PLAN: circular plan ward tower with rectangular tank tower to
south-west and short rectangular wing to north-east containing
stairs and former kitchen.
Ward tower of 3 storeys, attic storey and semi-basement. Pink
brick segmental arches to recessed sashes; paired to attic
gables. South side with cast-iron cantilevered "airing
galleries" to upper floors gained from segmental-arched
doorways with overlights and part-glazed doors. Parapet.
INTERIORS: of 50' (15.2m) diameter and functional but attic
ward with central octagonal cast-iron arcaded feature relating
to chimney/ventilation shaft.
Water and ablution tower of 3 storeys, attic storey and
semi-basement plus cast-iron tank. 2 windows to each
elevation. Clasping pilasters and central pilaster on each
elevation rise full height of tower to support pink brick
round-arches each containing an oculus at attic level. Narrow
sashes to each floor with pink brick continuous sill and head
bands. Cast-iron water tank with enriched panels on a moulded
corbelled base, each corbel with a projecting cast-iron
bracket.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the ward was the first free-standing example
of the circular "ward tower" in the country. The idea for
circular wards came from a paper given by John Marshall FRS,
Professor of Surgery at University College & Hospital, &
Professor of Anatomy at the Royal Academy and which was
reported by Godwin in the Builder, 1878. The design gave
improved air, light and ventilation with the advantage of only
needing a small site. The circular ward and water tower form a
group with New End Hospital former Workhouse Block (qv), the


Boilerhouse chimney (qv) and the Infirmary Block (qv). They
have considerable townscape value, and are a local landmark.
(The Builder: 2 February 1884; Marshall J: On a Circular
System of Hospital Wards with comments by PG Smith: -1878;
Medical History: Taylor J: Circular Hospital Wards :32: -1988:
426-435).



Listing NGR: TQ2640785961

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
477580
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Marshall, J, On a Circular System of Hospital Wards with comments by PG Smith, (1878)
The Builder in 2nd February, (1884)
Taylor, J, Medical History in Circular Hospital Wards, Vol. 32, (1988), 426-435

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Circular Ward and Attached Ablution and Water Tank Tower at Former New End Hospital

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 09-Jun-2026 at 18:46:45.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos