HOSPITAL FOR CONSUMPTION.
This is another admirable Institution, and, although it is situated just beyond the boundary of Chelsea parish, on the north of the Fulham Road, it has a very strong claim to be noticed in this work. It is a beautiful Elizabethan structure, built in the shape of the letter H, the depth of each wing being 190 ft., and the width of the building 200 ft. It stands in a square piece of ground covering three acres, and faces the public road. On entering the Lodge-gate there are three broad drives, one to the central entrance, which opens to a cheerful hall upon the first floor; another to the east entrance, which leads to the offices for the transaction of the hospital business; and the third to the west entrance, which is for the use of inmates and the friends of the in-patients on visiting days.
The ground floor is on a level with the gardens. The west wing and part of the centre of this floor contain the Dispensary and Out-patient-rooms, Laboratory, Museum, and Sitting-rooms of the Resident Clinical Assistants. The east wing contains the apartments of the Resident Medical Officer and Matron, Linen-room, Store-room, Secretary’s Office, Board-room, &c.
The first floor is devoted exclusively to Female Patients, saving small rooms for the Chaplain, and for each of the two Head Nurses, and the two requisite Sculleries, Baths, and Lavatories.
The arrangements of the second floor are precisely the same as those on the first floor; the wards being occupied by Male Patients, for whom there are about 107 beds.
The attic floor has comfortable dormitories for the Nurses and Servants, and in the Tower-rooms are the sleeping apartments of the Resident Clinical Assistants.
The Chapel stands on the north side of the hospital, and parallel with the centre portion. The approach is by a corridor opposite the front entrance, to which the patients have immediate access from their respective galleries. The chaplain is the Rev. E. B. Allen, B.A., whose faithful exhortations and kind manner of addressing the patients have gained for him the esteem of all who know his worth.
His late R.H. the Prince Consort laid the foundation stone of the hospital in 1844.
The Home.—This Institution is conducted and maintained by a few benevolent Ladies, as an auxiliary to the above hospital, for persons who are either waiting their turns for admission to the hospital, or after leaving it, during the necessary time occupied in the full re-establishment of their health and their search for employment. This excellent “Home” is at Manor House, near Durham Place, Chelsea.