Great Ormond Street Hospital

Great Ormond Street Hospital in London (Great Ormond Street) is the oldest children's hospital in the United Kingdom. Initially called the Hospital for Sick Children, it was founded in 1852 by English physician Charles West who was deeply concerned for the helpless situation of the sick children - especially the poor - of the Victorian London. With the help of many influential people, among them many members of the Royal family and Charles Dickens, West managed to build up gradually a structure that would become a milestone for both the history of pediatric medicine and pediatric nursing. Today GOSH remains one of the leading pediatric structures in the world.

The oldest extant building

Current main entrance and some modern buildings

St.Christopher's Chapel

Designed by Edward Middleton Barry, St. Christopher's Chapel - inside the hospital - was originally an integral part of the old hospital building. It was completed, in Byzantine idiom, in 1875. Oscar Wilde described it as "the most delightful private chapel in London". As the Chapel is a Grade 2 listed building it could not be demolished along with the old hospital in the late 1980s, nor was it practicable to incorporate it on its previous site in the redevelopment plans. In association with English Heritage it was therefore decided to move it 'en bloc' to the position it occupies today, not far from the main entrance to the hospital¹.

• Photos by Luca Borghi ti.supmacinu|ihgrob.l#| (December 2015)

• Locate the item on this Google Map

Related items:

• Charles West's memorial tablet
• The Paul O’Gorman Childhood Leukaemia Research Centre
• The Princess Royal Nurses Home

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Footnotes

1. Retrieved and adapted from Raymond J. Lunnon, The Chapel of St. Christopher, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London 2005 (leaflet).