St Leonard's Hospital, Bow Road, London, E

Image: © David Hallam-Jones Taken: 21 Sep 2019

Although this establishment opened as The City of London Union Workhouse in 1849 in 1874 it was converted to an infirmary for the same Union with mentally ill patients coming here for assessment before being sent to other institutions or being discharged. In 1902 it had 511 beds. However, when the Homerton Workhouse reopened in 1909 these premises became superfluous. The premises were however, reopened in 1912 as the City of London Institution for the treatment of the chronically ill and it was renamed the Bow Institution. The London County Council took over its administration in 1930 when Boards of Guardians were abolished. By 1933 its total number of beds was 786 and a psychiatric observation unit had been established, although in 1935 fire destroyed the west wing and the main building. In 1936 the property was renamed St Clement's Hospital. Unfortunately the hospital was badly damaged by bombs in 1944 when it had 397 beds. In 1948 it was absorbed into the newly formed NHS and the bomb damage was repaired. By 1959 the Hospital had become an exclusively psychiatric care facility. It became part of the London Hospital Whitechapel Group in 1968 and it was re-titled The London Hospital (St Clement's). In 1974, with 146 beds, it became part of the Tower Hamlets Health District after an NHS reorganisation. However, in 2003 the East London and The City Mental Health NHS Trust decided to sell the site for redevelopment and the hospital closed in 2005 after its clinical services had moved to a new purpose-built adult mental health facility at Mile End Hospital. At this point in time this asset was transferred to a Community Foundation comprised of local stakeholders who thereafter owned the freehold and were authorised to govern the development of the potential commercial and community spaces on the site. These include the creation of a significant number of affordable apartments, alongside other types.

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