Description

CAMDEN

TQ3081NW QUEEN SQUARE
798-1/100/1366 (South side)
14/01/92 Italian Hospital and attached wall
and railings

GV II

Hospital on a corner site. 1898-9 by TW Cutler with c1910
Boswell Street extension by JD Slater. Channelled Portland
stone ground floor; upper floors red brick with stone
dressings.
STYLE: English Baroque.
EXTERIOR: 4 storeys and basement. 6 windows to Queen Square;
left return to Boswell Street, 19 window range. Central
projecting canted portico with concave returns, each with a
narrow light; Tuscan pilasters support a broken pediment with
elaborately foliated coat of arms of the Italian Royal Family
above the round-arched entrance having cast and wrought-iron
gates with cross motifs and Art Nouveau influenced overthrow.
Plain 4-pane sashes to ground floor. Plain band at 1st floor
level above which a wide band forming the podium for giant
Corinthian pilasters articulating the bays and rising through
1st and 2nd floors to support an entablature with projecting
modillion cornice, the frieze inscribed "The Italian
Hospital"; clasping pilasters at angles. Architraved 1st and
2nd floor 4-pane sashes with rectangular light above; 1st
floor has segmental pediments, 2nd floor with scrolled
architraves and scrolled pediments with swags and keystones.
Attic storey articulated by pilaster strips supporting a
blocking course, broken forward above pilasters; lugged
architraves to 4-pane sashes. Left hand angle has cartouche
inscribed "John Ortelli/ founded/ 1884/ Rebuilt/ 1898/ this/
hospital". 3 return bays similar, then a projecting circular
brick stair tower (flanked by single recessed bays) the 4th
storey of stone with pilasters flanking round-arched windows
in round-arched recesses with keystones: this denotes the
Chapel. Ribbed lead dome surmounted by a stone lantern with
ball and cross. Remainder of Boswell Street facade in red
brick with blue brick base. Gauged red brick flat arches to
recessed sashes. Plain band at 1st floor, continuous 1st floor
sill band and moulded brick cornice. Late C20 slate mansard
roof with flush windows. Extension in similar style but ground
floor yellow brick with dentil cornice at 1st floor level.
INTERIOR: mostly altered; plain chapel.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached stone walls to areas and
sweeping in to portico; cast-iron railings.

HISTORICAL NOTE: the Italian Hospital was founded in 1884 by
Giovanni Ortelli, originally in converted back-rooms of No.41
Queen Square. It was run by the Sisters of Charity of St
Vincent de Paul for the Italian community in London, most of
whom were concentrated in the Clerkenwell and Holborn areas.
The hospital closed in 1990.

Listing NGR: TQ3042481887

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q27082031

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)