| General Lying-In Hospital | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The General Lying-In Hospital | |
  Location within Lambeth | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Lambeth, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | NHS England |
| Type | Maternity |
| Affiliated university | St Thomas' Hospital |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | No Accident & Emergency |
| History | |
| Opened | 1767, moved 1828 |
| Closed | 1971 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in England |
TheGeneral Lying-In Hospital was one of the firstmaternity hospitals in Great Britain. It opened in 1767 onWestminster Bridge Road, London and closed in 1971.Lying-in is an archaic term for childbirth (referring to the month-longbed rest prescribed forpostpartum confinement).[1]
The General Lying-In Hospital was an initiative of Dr John Leake, a physician, and the site chosen was on the north side ofWestminster Bridge Road,Lambeth, then on the outskirts of London. Itsfoundation stone was laid in August 1765 and the facility opened as theWestminster New Lying-in Hospital in April 1767.[2]
With a view to expansion, the governors bought a lease of a plot of ground with 100-foot frontage on the east side ofYork Road, Lambeth in the early 1820s. The new building was designed by Henry Harrison and was built at a cost of about £3,000.[3] On 22 September 1828, the minutes record that "On Friday Morning a Patient was delivered of a Son in the New Hospital and the Committee met this day in the new Hospital for the first time."[3] The facility was incorporated byroyal charter as the General Lying-In Hospital in 1830.[3] A new ward and a training school formidwives was established in 1879.[3]
Joseph Lister becameconsulting surgeon in March 1879 andSir John Williams andSir Francis Champneys were appointed physicians the following year.[3] Two houses on the north side of the hospital, known as the Albany Baths, were converted into a nurses' home (i.e. staff accommodation) in 1907; this facility was re-built between 1930 and 1933 as a modern red brick building with a mansard roof, designed by E. Turner Powell.[3] The hospitalwas evacuated toDiocesan House, St Albans during the Second World War, but returned to Lambeth and joined theNational Health Service under the management ofSt Thomas' Hospital in 1946.[3]
The hospital closed in 1971 and fell into a state of dereliction. It was restored and refurbished in 2003 at a cost of £4.27 million financed in part by a grant from the Guy's and St Thomas' Charity.[4] Since March 2013 the building has comprised part of thePremier Inn Hotel Waterloo. The modern elements of the hotel were nominated for the 2013Carbuncle Cup for bad buildings.[5]
| International | |
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| National | |
51°30′06″N0°07′00″W / 51.501598°N 0.116660°W /51.501598; -0.116660
