National Temperance Hospital
The National Temperance Hospital (London Temperance Hospital before 1939) is an abandoned hospital in Hampstead Road, London, between Mornington Crescent and Warren Street. It opened on 6 October 1873[1] by initiative of the National Temperance League, and was managed by a board of 12 teetotallers. Under its rules, the use of alcohol to treat patients was discouraged, but not outlawed: doctors could prescribe alcohol when they thought necessary for exceptional cases.[2]
In 1931, Chicago magnate Samuel Insull donated $160,000 to build a new extension, the "Insull Memorial wing".[3]
It was incorporated into the National Health Service in 1948 and eventually came under the management of University College Hospital.
It was closed in 1990. In recent years the site has been considered for redevelopment or refurbishment into the new centre for the National Institute for Medical Research.[4] In June 2014 the original building still stood, but boarded-up. It is likely to be demolished to make room at Euston for HS2.[5]
External links
- in 1937 edition of Burke's Landed Gentry, requesting for donations to the hospital
- Google Street View of the oldest part of the building, in Cardington Street
- Article on re-using the hospital to re-house people displaced by HS2
- BBC News 30 July 2014: 'The teetotaller's hospital: Removing drink from Victorian medicine, accessed 30 July 2014