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Site for the new Infirmary, December 1808 - August 1809 (17)

The establishment of a site for the new Infirmary, proposed by the hospital physician, Dr Moseley in a letter to the hospital Governor Sir David Dundas on 20 December 1808, took until June 1810 to decide upon. The initial impetus for the establishment of a new Infirmary came from the Treasury’s re-acquisition of the lease of Yarborough (otherwise known as Walpole) House. The physician proposed that the old house (purportedly partly built by Vanbrugh) be converted into an Infirmary.

Soane’s initial report (on 12 April 1809), with his accompanying designs, found the conversion of the old house to be utterly unsuitable to support the 80 berths (beds) required for in-patients (SM volume 78/31, SM volume 77/25 and SM volume 77/22) and he suggested two designs for completely detached buildings to the south-west of the Great West Court (SM volume 78/28 and SM volume 78/11 and SM volume 77/6 and SM 67/2/16). These designs had the benefit of an unobstructed southern view over the River Thames, the air from which was thought to be beneficial to the health of patients. However, there was to be a complication that rendered his proposal impossible.

The complication was that, without Soane’s knowledge, the site proposed for the Infirmary (SM volume 78/28 and SM 67/2/16) had already been leased on 11 March 1809 to Colonel Willoughby Gordon, for the construction of a villa. There followed a series of negotiations, in which Soane attempted to alter the decision and afterwards the position of the proposed villa in order to provide space for his Infirmary. However, by June 1810 Soane was forced to submit and put forward further plans for the conversion of Yarborough House (SM 67/5/15), although in the end Soane only used parts of the old building (most significantly Yarborough House’s drawing room).

Most of the correspondence and many of the plans relating to the decisions concerning the new Infirmary were printed in: Papers, presented to the House of Commons, relating to the Building of a New Infirmary, and the Leasing of Ground at Chelsea Hospital (ordered by the House of Commons), to be printed, 20th April 1809.
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