Holborn Union Infirmary

The main building (rear) and the north 'Nightingale' ward (front), from the east.

Between 1877-79 Henry Saxon Snell was asked to design a new Union Infirmary, to the west of Archway Road, Highgate. He had previously designed other London workhouses, including St Marylebone and St Olave Union infirmaries.

Henry Saxon Snell designed the infirmary with a large four-storey central building, where the beds, on the wards, were placed at right angles to the main walls, along internal partitions. 

The north building.

'Nightingale' Wards to the north (male) and south (female) were linked to the central building with ground-floor corridors. Theses wards had their beds placed in long rows against the walls, with windows on either side that created a through-draught. 

Holborn Union Infirmary, from the west.

Although opening in 1879 work continued on the site until its completion in 1885.

The infirmary also included a workhouse, care facilities, a laundry room and a workshop building, all built in a decorative Gothic Revival style.

A two-storey building, on the east side, contained a dispensary, a doctor's residence and receiving wards.

Recreation grounds, on the west side, were split to keep males and females apart.

Holborn Union Infirmary, from the south.

The Archway Road infirmary was renamed the Holborn and Finsbury Hospital in 1921, before becoming Archway Hospital, in 1930, and, in 1948, the Archway Wing of Whittington Hospital.

The University of Middlesex and University College, London, acquired the buildings, in 1998, and between 1999-2013 operated a medical research and education facility there, known as the Archway Campus.

The south building, from the east.

During the 1960s redevelopment and road changes cut through part of the land, which had its original apex at nearby Archway Tavern.

The Archway Tavern, once the apex of the Holborn Union Infirmary site.

It was then sold for redevelopment, but still remains empty.