Buildings & interiors
The Great Hall and the Hogarth Stair in the North Wing (1732), along with the Henry VIII Gatehouse (1703) are the heritage jewels of the Barts site.
With our specialist design team, we have advanced detailed plans for the conservation of the historic buildings including a detailed business plan to ensure long term sustainable uses. Our programmes of activity across a range of audiences are also well progressed.
Images: Matthew Andrews
The Great Hall
The Great Hall is on the first floor of the Grade I listed North Wing, built to house the finance and management functions of the hospital. Patients were cared for in the other wings of the hospital, as they are today. Running costs were borne by donations from benefactors, and the Governors used the hall to recruit the great and the good of the City as donors. Their names and the sums of their donation were inscribed on its walls. This was true providing that you contributed before 1905, when the practice was abandoned; today, contributors to the restoration of the building can once again have their names added.
The Hall is decorated with portraits and dedications to early donors. A striking portrait of Henry VIII, hands on hips, glares down at all who enter, including final year medical students taking their examinations. The original hanging of the portrait in The Great Hall was supervised by James Gibbs and William Hogarth in 1738. See also: Paintings
The ceiling was decorated in gold leaf by Jean Baptiste St Michell and represents his only work in England.
Following the inception of the NHS in 1948, the funding of Barts – like other hospitals – became the responsibility of the government and the Great Hall gradually changed to more general uses such as an examination hall for students, award ceremonies, receptions, dinners and cultural events.
The Great Hall has suffered from decades of neglect, its poor condition evident from areas of water damage, cracked plasterwork and peeling paint. Under our proposals, the Great Hall will be lovingly repaired and conserved, and provided with new bespoke lighting, heating and audio systems. The Hall will be available for hire as well as continuing to serve as a space for conferences, training sessions and other activities by the working Hospital. A new kitchen is also included in our renovation plans.
Ceiling restoration and plaster repairs
The ceiling of the Great Hall is of great historic significance. There are numerous areas of damaged or cracked plaster which will require careful attention. We have planned a programme of specialist repair and redecoration based on detailed investigation work carried out by leading wall painting conservators.
Historic donor plaques and panelling
The 18th-century Hospital was built entirely by private subscription and, until the formation of the National Health Service, the running costs were covered by donations together with the Hospital’s estate revenues. The names of thousands of private benefactors are inscribed on the walls of the Great Hall, among them are many well-known figures, from royal and aristocratic patrons to supporters from the worlds of commerce and the arts.
These historic donor plaques, showing gifts dating from 1546 to 1905, are the most striking feature of the Great Hall. They require careful repair and restoration so that today’s benefactors can join their ranks.
The Charter Window
The 17th-century Charter Window depicts the re-founding of the Hospital by Henry VIII. The king is flanked by Aldermen of the City and nobles, as he presents the Royal Charter to Thomas Vicary, a physician and surgeon who became the Hospital’s first Superintendent.
The Charter Window is bowing severely, and needs careful stabilisation and renovation by specialist stained glass conservators.
Fireplaces
The two stone handsome 18th-century stone fireplaces, designed by James Gibbs, will receive specialist conservation.
Images: Matthew Hall
Damian Griffiths
David Butler
Friends of Barts Heritage
See also: 18th Century
Hogarth Stair
The Great Hall is approached by way of a grand staircase, the Hogarth Stair, the walls of which were decorated by William Hogarth (1697-1764). Although often referred to as murals, they are in fact canvases. Hogarth was well-known at the time for his paintings and engravings. His artworks were studies of everyday life, perhaps more accessible in this regard, and commonly resembling caricatures.
Hogarth was born in Bartholomew Close which, until the recent redevelopment, contained many of the medical school buildings. He was incensed to discover that an artist from the continent (Jacopo Amigoni) had been approached to provide artwork for The North Wing’s staircase and offered to do so free of charge. His paintings depict The Pool of Bethesda and The Good Samaritan. These devotional paintings were unusual for Hogarth, as he described himself:
“Before I had done anything of much consequence in this walk (painting modern moral subjects), I entertained some hopes of succeeding in what the puffers in books call ‘the great style of history painting’. So without having had a stroke of this grand business before, I quitted small portraits and familiar conversations, and, with a smile at my own temerity, commenced history painter, and on a great staircase at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, painted two Scripture stories, ‘The Pool of Bethesda’ and ‘The Good Samaritan’, with figures seven feet high.”
The Hogarth canvases The Good Samaritan and The Pool of Bethesda, although in reasonable condition, require specialist cleaning and conservation to remedy structural issues caused by the wooden ‘stretcher’ framework behind.
The stair hall itself requires extensive work, including repair and strengthening of the timber staircase, conservation of the magnificent 18th Century chandelier, the provision of new solar shading in the window reveals and, importantly, the installation of new lighting which will dramatically improve the legibility of the paintings.
The works to the Hogarth Stair will also provide an opportunity to demonstrate the latest conservation techniques, and share new discoveries as part of an accessible public programme.
Images: Matthew Hall
Sam Whittaker
Damian Griffiths
North Wing rooms and exteriors
Rebuilding of the hospital
The Grade I listed North Wing was built to house the financial and management functions of the hospital, with patient care provided in the other wings of the hospital, as it still is today.
With construction funded solely by donations, plans for the prestigious Great Hall designed for the North Wing’s first floor and accessed via the spectacular Hogarth Stair were a great incentive and reward for those who made donations. The prestigious project also attracted architect James Gibbs who developed the new designs for the hospital without charge, and artist William Hogarth who also offered his services free. Gibbs’ designs for the hospital were echoed in many surrounding buildings of importance. For Hogarth, the project represented an opportunity to work on a scale he had never come close to before, offering great visibility to potential new clients.
The North Wing was the first building to be completed. Begun in 1730, it was completed in 1732. The costs of running the hospital were not borne from taxes, insurance or private investment, but by voluntary donations from benefactors, and the dramatic Great Hall was used by the Governors to hold their meetings and to welcome and entertain the great and the good of the City to attract them to become donors. Their names adorn its walls in perpetuity, a practice that continued until 1905, at which point there was no room left!
Construction of the South Wing began in 1736 and finished in 1740 followed by the West Wing (1743-1752), and finally the East wing in 1769. The fountain and gardens at the centre of the square were added in 1859.
Securing the external envelope of the North Wing is an urgent priority to prevent any further damage to the historic fabric. Extensive and costly repairs and conservation works are needed, including the complete overhaul of the roof, gutters and rainwater goods, and the repair and redecoration of around 90 windows.
Exterior repairs and conservation
The roof of the North Wing, which spans nearly 40 metres, is in poor condition, having endured half a century without any meaningful repairs. Loose and broken slates are widespread and the stone chimneys are defective. The lead gutters and cast-iron downpipes also have leaks and the Portland Stone parapet is affected by cracks and faults.
Without urgent repairs rainwater will continue to cause damage to the stonework and historic interiors.
North balcony and clock
The impressive ceremonial balcony on the north side of the building, commanding the view from the Gatehouse, urgently needs structural investigation and repairs to its stone parapet. Cracking and staining of the stonework is visible from ground level.
The North Wing clock has been an important fixture in the Hospital Square for nearly 300 years. It has been dormant since the 1990s and the clock face is blackened and barely legible. Our plans include the careful redecoration of the face and a complete overhaul of the clock mechanism to bring it back into working order.
Windows
The North Wing’s handsome sash windows are one of its most important features. Sadly, they are in very poor condition. Many of the frames and sills are rotten and will require extensive repair and, in some cases, replacement. Finally, they will need to be very carefully decorated to protect them from the elements for another 5-10 years.
External landscape
St Bartholomew’s Hospital has for centuries had a powerful civic presence in the City of London. Its historic precinct, with its expansive Square, provides an important link between the City and Smithfield. Its open spaces are enjoyed by Hospital visitors, staff and the general public.
The areas adjacent to the north elevation of the building will be sensitively landscaped to integrate the building into the wider context of the working hospital, as well as offering an attractive public space in one of London’s historic and increasingly vibrant neighbourhoods.
Images: Damian Griffiths
Wellcome Collection
See also: 18th Century
Henry VIII Gatehouse
The magnificent Henry VIII Gate, facing north onto the open space of Smithfield was built in 1702. Long before this date, the main entrance to the hospital precinct was on this site, and it is possible that it was located there as early as the 12th century.
In August 1701, the Board of Governors gave instructions for the north gate to be rebuilt and flanked with tenements at higher rents to replace those already on site. In March 1702, the Governors’ minute book recorded an agreement ‘with Edward Strong junior, mason, to erect and build the front of this hospital’s north gate in Smithfield with Purbeck stone, according to the model drawn by the said Edward Strong… for the sum of £550’.
Edward Strong came from a notable family of stonemasons; his uncle had been Chief Mason to Sir Christopher Wren, and he himself had worked under Wren at St Paul’s Cathedral. The building work was completed in the late spring of 1703, but the cost proved to be considerably higher than the original estimate: £1493 had already been spent by Michaelmas 1702, and a further £1320 was spent before the Gate and adjoining houses were finished. A clock to adorn the façade of the Gate was made by Richard Horton in 1702.
Above the archway stands a statue of King Henry VIII; the only such statue in a public place in London. The statue is the work of the sculptor Francis Bird and is contemporary with the Gate; the King’s crown and sceptre were made in 1987 by John Sambrook, the crown replacing a decayed Victorian one. Above the King are two further sculptures, one holding a crutch, the other with his right arm in a sling. These are thought to be allegorical figures of Lameness and Disease.
The inscription on the Gate reads:
‘St Bartholomew’s Hospital, founded by Rahere anno 1102, refounded by K. Henry VIII 1546. This front was rebuilt anno 1702 in the first year of Queen Anne; Sir Wm. Prichard K[nigh]t and Alder[man], President; John Nicholl Esq., Treasurer’.
The date ‘1102’ is an error, for the hospital was actually founded in 1123. John Stow’s Survey of London, first published in 1598, wrongly stated that St Bartholomew’s Hospital was established in 1102, and the mistake gained wide circulation; as late as the 1840s an inscription was placed on what is now Lucas Block, giving Stow’s date for the founding of the hospital instead of the correct one.
In 1833-4 the Gate was substantially reconstructed. The 18th-century facade overlooking West Smithfield remained unaltered, but the houses immediately adjoining the Gate were demolished, and ground and first floor rooms were added on either side of the central arch. The rear of the Gate was re-modelled and faced with stone at the same time.
The Gate has had many uses. In 1834, it was employed as a residence for the house surgeons, and in the early 20th century the rooms were lived in by the hospital beadles and their families. More recently the Gate has been used as office accommodation. It was restored in 1969 and again in 1985-7 when a Civic Trust commendation was made for the restoration work.
Limited repairs to the Gatehouse were carried out in the 1990s but the building today is in poor condition. Urgent work is needed to secure the fabric and to give the building a new life.
Under our plans, the Gatehouse will be fully repaired, the stonework and sculpture conserved, and the interior refurbished and re-serviced for office use.
Roof and windows
Roof repair works are vital in order to prevent ongoing water ingress which is causing damage to the interiors. The window frames and sashes are also in poor condition and require urgent attention.
Within the programme of work, loose slates will be replaced, and full repairs to the parapet gutters and cast-iron downpipes will be carried out using traditional methods and materials. The sash windows will be carefully repaired and redecorated.
Statues and façades
There are currently cracks and other defects in the Portland Stone façade and sculpture. These will be remedied using traditional conservation methods including precision mortar repairs. Additional lighting will ensure that, post-conservation, the Gatehouse will once again shine out as the beautiful ceremonial entrance to the Hospital.
Images: Wellcome Collection
Matthew Hall
