Former Circular Ward For St Giles Hospital

The former circular ward for St Giles' Hospital, built in 1888 by Robert P Whellock, is a hospital ward located on Havil Street in Southwark. The building is constructed of dark red brick with stone dressings and features a steeply pitched tiled roof. It has a circular plan with a polygonal extension to the west and a smaller projection to the north. The structure consists of four identical storeys, a basement, and an attic with gabled dormers positioned above a brick cornice.

The windows in the basement are round-headed, while the upper floors have small-paned casements with fixed overlights and stone lintels. Most of these windows are square-headed, except for those on the third floor beneath the gables, which are round-headed and feature keystones. Pilasters rise between the windows from the ground to the sills of the third floor. There are iron balconies on all floors facing southwest. A ventilation shaft runs the full height of the building and emerges above the roofline as a central octagonal chimney stack with gablets below.

Each floor was designed as an open ward arranged radially around the outer wall. The north and west extensions were intended for lifts, nurses' accommodation, and some isolation wards at the attic level. The basement was originally used as a fuel store for the central furnace. This building is of historic interest as an early and rare example of a circular hospital ward, although it was designed as one of two identical towers, with the second never built. The interior has not been inspected.