Chelsea Hospital already had Wren’s guardhouse, which was situated on the west side of the hospital but in 1817 a new one was required as a new footpath had been laid through Burton’s Court. Presumably a guard was necessary as outsiders would be regularly passing though Hospital property. The guard house’s location, therefore, must have been along the East Road, and presumably opposite Burton’s Court, to the north of the Secretary’s Offices.

Construction began in 1817 and was completed in 1818, at a cost of £729.15.8. The building was very much in the style of Wren (being post 1815), although it does still bear the ‘sculptural’ chimney of Soane’s oeuvre.

Soane’s Guardhouse was destroyed by a bomb in 1945.

The SM Archive holds one elevation of Soane's Guardhouse, with some details in margin and on verso (Priv.Corr.IX.J.31).