Introduction
My quest to explore this site began early in June, with me and a few friends trying to get in, however, once we got onto the outside area we were unable to enter and left empty-handed. Learning of an entrance, me and @Reallyjaffa decided to return, and after some acrobatics and some climbing we were in.
History
Photo of the outside of the hospital from 1933
Original designs for the hospital
Originally commissioned in 1929 by the Freemasons as the Royal Masonic Hospital with the opportunity to design the building being won in competition by Sir John Burnet, Tait and Lorne. Designed as a conservative Neo-Georgian building featuring pitched rooves and pitchers. However, principal designer Thomas S. Tait made a bold decision, scrapping the design in favour of a more modern design inspired by Dutch brick work (specifically the work of Willem Marinus Dukok in Hilversum) pivoting to a more horizontal, modernist composition with linear geometry, flat rooves and multi-coloured bricks. The land was bought next to Ravenscourt park in 1931 with the foundation stone being laid on May 13, 1932 and following rapid construction, the hospital was opened on July 13, 1933 by King George V and Queen Mary. As the largest acute hospital in Europe at the time, the building cost almost double that of the average hospital (£400,000), funded wholely by voluntary subscriptions from Masonic lodges. The building's design was dictated by interwar clinical philosophy, which prioritized maximum access to fresh air, sunshine and cross ventilation meaning it featured cantilevered sun balconies (accessible to wheelchair patients) using early structural electric-arc welding creating thin concrete slabs without heavy support pillars. Furthermore, interior corridors and rooms were designed to avoid right angles where dust could settle. The building then proceeded to win the RIBA Gold Medal for the best building of 1933. Before WW2 in 1938 a nurses' home was added to the site with a dining hall and a squash court. During WW2, the hospital treated thousands of military casualties (including Battle of Britain pilots such as Richard Hillary), yet, after WW2 following the 1946 National Health Service Act, the Royal Masonic Hospital elected to remain completely independent and self-funded, treating subscribed Freemasons and their families. Expansion of the hospital continued in 1959 with the building of the Wakefield Wing (constructed to house modern physiotherapy units, operating facilities and staff offices) and once again with a red-brick, zinc-roofed surgical theatre designed by Watkins Gray Woodgate linked via a pedestrian corridor. By the late 1970s and 80s, rising healthcare costs, low bed occupancy and maintenance overheads created severe deficits forcing the hospital to open it's doors to paying non-Masonic patients in 1978 but following internal governance disputes and mounting debt leading to the hospital being voted to be closed with the charity running it being dissolved in 1994. After a brief stint as the private Stamford Hospital, the Hammersmith NHS Trust leased the building in 2002, renaming it to Ravenscourt Park Hospital. It then served as a fast-track elective orthopaedic centre to cut public wait times before closing in 2006 due to restructuring. The building was then left vacant for years with many plans in the 2010s to convert the site into a private independent hospital or a high-end elective surgical hub but none came to fruition due to the huge costs of bringing a 1930's building in line with modern medical regulations. The site was acquired in the summer of 2022 by Telereal Trillium group and gained planning permission for the site to be retained and restored into 140 residential apartments and a 65-bed specialist care home, with minor post-war additions to be demolished to reopen sidelines. The site was also used to film many different films and series such as Agatha Christie's Poirot and more recently Spiderman: Brand New Day.
Explore
After a quick fence hop and search about we were able to locate our planned entrance and we made our way into the building's maze of corridors and rooms stretching in all directions. We quickly located a staircase (after a bit of wandering around in sider rooms) and made our way upstairs to the stunning art-deco cafeteria. We then made our way around locating a set of lifts and a beautiful wooden clad room that we later realised was repeated on every floor. Locating a sign, we were then able to make our way to the radiology block where we found the higlight of our trip: an intact Philips C-arm Fluoroscopy sytem housing an X-ray unit that would have provided real-time X-ray video from multiple angles. We then went into the main entry hall which had been covered in tarp before setting off multiple alarms legging it out and eventually exiting the building.
Photos
Front of the hospital featuring stone figures (carved by the renowned British sculptor Gilbert Bayes) of Aesculapius (the Greek god of medicine) and Hygeia (the goddess of health)
Art-deco style cafeteria
Interior of one of the wood-clad rooms
Elevator stations located on each floor
Filing and storage room
View from one of the cantilevered terraces
Vintage reception desk
Lovely looking chandelier and the main entrance hall (marble floors are covered)
Heading to the radiology department
And last but not least
My quest to explore this site began early in June, with me and a few friends trying to get in, however, once we got onto the outside area we were unable to enter and left empty-handed. Learning of an entrance, me and @Reallyjaffa decided to return, and after some acrobatics and some climbing we were in.
History
Photo of the outside of the hospital from 1933
Original designs for the hospital
Originally commissioned in 1929 by the Freemasons as the Royal Masonic Hospital with the opportunity to design the building being won in competition by Sir John Burnet, Tait and Lorne. Designed as a conservative Neo-Georgian building featuring pitched rooves and pitchers. However, principal designer Thomas S. Tait made a bold decision, scrapping the design in favour of a more modern design inspired by Dutch brick work (specifically the work of Willem Marinus Dukok in Hilversum) pivoting to a more horizontal, modernist composition with linear geometry, flat rooves and multi-coloured bricks. The land was bought next to Ravenscourt park in 1931 with the foundation stone being laid on May 13, 1932 and following rapid construction, the hospital was opened on July 13, 1933 by King George V and Queen Mary. As the largest acute hospital in Europe at the time, the building cost almost double that of the average hospital (£400,000), funded wholely by voluntary subscriptions from Masonic lodges. The building's design was dictated by interwar clinical philosophy, which prioritized maximum access to fresh air, sunshine and cross ventilation meaning it featured cantilevered sun balconies (accessible to wheelchair patients) using early structural electric-arc welding creating thin concrete slabs without heavy support pillars. Furthermore, interior corridors and rooms were designed to avoid right angles where dust could settle. The building then proceeded to win the RIBA Gold Medal for the best building of 1933. Before WW2 in 1938 a nurses' home was added to the site with a dining hall and a squash court. During WW2, the hospital treated thousands of military casualties (including Battle of Britain pilots such as Richard Hillary), yet, after WW2 following the 1946 National Health Service Act, the Royal Masonic Hospital elected to remain completely independent and self-funded, treating subscribed Freemasons and their families. Expansion of the hospital continued in 1959 with the building of the Wakefield Wing (constructed to house modern physiotherapy units, operating facilities and staff offices) and once again with a red-brick, zinc-roofed surgical theatre designed by Watkins Gray Woodgate linked via a pedestrian corridor. By the late 1970s and 80s, rising healthcare costs, low bed occupancy and maintenance overheads created severe deficits forcing the hospital to open it's doors to paying non-Masonic patients in 1978 but following internal governance disputes and mounting debt leading to the hospital being voted to be closed with the charity running it being dissolved in 1994. After a brief stint as the private Stamford Hospital, the Hammersmith NHS Trust leased the building in 2002, renaming it to Ravenscourt Park Hospital. It then served as a fast-track elective orthopaedic centre to cut public wait times before closing in 2006 due to restructuring. The building was then left vacant for years with many plans in the 2010s to convert the site into a private independent hospital or a high-end elective surgical hub but none came to fruition due to the huge costs of bringing a 1930's building in line with modern medical regulations. The site was acquired in the summer of 2022 by Telereal Trillium group and gained planning permission for the site to be retained and restored into 140 residential apartments and a 65-bed specialist care home, with minor post-war additions to be demolished to reopen sidelines. The site was also used to film many different films and series such as Agatha Christie's Poirot and more recently Spiderman: Brand New Day.
Explore
After a quick fence hop and search about we were able to locate our planned entrance and we made our way into the building's maze of corridors and rooms stretching in all directions. We quickly located a staircase (after a bit of wandering around in sider rooms) and made our way upstairs to the stunning art-deco cafeteria. We then made our way around locating a set of lifts and a beautiful wooden clad room that we later realised was repeated on every floor. Locating a sign, we were then able to make our way to the radiology block where we found the higlight of our trip: an intact Philips C-arm Fluoroscopy sytem housing an X-ray unit that would have provided real-time X-ray video from multiple angles. We then went into the main entry hall which had been covered in tarp before setting off multiple alarms legging it out and eventually exiting the building.
Photos
Front of the hospital featuring stone figures (carved by the renowned British sculptor Gilbert Bayes) of Aesculapius (the Greek god of medicine) and Hygeia (the goddess of health)
Art-deco style cafeteria
Interior of one of the wood-clad rooms
Elevator stations located on each floor
Filing and storage room
View from one of the cantilevered terraces
Vintage reception desk
Lovely looking chandelier and the main entrance hall (marble floors are covered)
Heading to the radiology department
And last but not least
Last edited:
