A listed west London hospital where thousands of servicemen were treated during the Second World War that has stood empty since 2006 is to be converted in apartments, a cultural centre and a private care home under a major new scheme.
The modernist grade II* listed Royal Masonic Hospital next to Ravenscourt Park in Hammersmith was bought by property company TT in 2022. It has now teamed up with London architects SPPARC to convert the brick building into a mixed use development.
The hospital, originally built by the Freemasons and designed by Scottish modernist architect Thomas S. Tait, was opened by King George V and Queen Mary in 1933 and won the RIBA gold medal that year. Its design includes concrete reliefs of Greek god Aesculapius and the goddess Hebe.
It was requisitioned by the NHS in 2002 but closed four years later.
A number of plans to bring it back into use have fallen by the wayside. Those included plans in 2012 to house the London International Hospital, which eventually collapsed in 2017.
Trevor Morriss, Principal at SPPARC said: “Our team relish the opportunity to work on a historically-significant restoration that will breathe new life into one of the finest institutions built during the interwar period
“It’s upsetting when sites such as these go unused for decades when, with careful and sensitive design, we can alter the purpose of a building while wholly respecting its unique quality and character.”
The building has appeared in a number of television programmes, including Poirot.
