Guys Hospital Main Building Including Wings And Chapel

Guy's Hospital Main Building Including Wings and Chapel

A hospital and chapel dating from 1721–5 and 1728, with further 18th-century additions and partial rebuilding in the later 20th century. The building comprises ranges arranged around inner quadrangles.

The main entrance block was designed by Thomas Dance in 1728 and remodelled by Richard Jupp in 1774. The east wing, originally built by James Steere between 1738 and 1741, was completely rebuilt in facsimile after World War II. The chapel and west wing were designed by Richard Jupp and built between 1774 and 1777.

The centre block is constructed of multi-coloured stock brick and Portland stone, with slate mansard roofs with dormers behind brick parapets over stone cornices to the outer sections. The wings are similar, with stucco to the ground floor and slate mansard roofs with dormers featuring alternating triangular and segmental pediments to the side sections, again behind brick parapets above stone cornices.

The plan comprises a large forecourt with buildings on three sides, with two inner quadrangles behind.

The centre block rises three storeys with a sunk basement and attic, spanning thirteen bays. The projecting central frontispiece consists of five bays in stone. The ground floor features a rusticated finish with five round-headed openings with rusticated voussoirs. The central three bays contain decorative wrought-iron gates and fanlights, forming an open arcade leading to the cloister behind; the outer openings are glazed in round-headed recesses. Above stand four giant Ionic attached columns flanked by two giant Ionic pilasters, rising through the first and second floors to support an entablature with paterae in the frieze and a pediment above the central, slightly projecting three bays. Between the first and second floor windows are three panels with bas-reliefs of putti. At first-floor level are statues of Aesculapius and Hygeia in niches, with allegorical figures in the tympanum—all executed by John Bacon. Stone rustication continues across the outer sections of the ground floor, which are set in advance of the upper floors and have rusticated voussoirs to recessed round-headed windows with a balustraded parapet above. All windows are sashes with glazing bars and flat, gauged-brick arches.

The west wing rises three storeys with an attic, spanning fifteen bays. A slightly projecting central section of five bays features a ground floor of rusticated stone with round-headed sash windows with glazing bars set in round-headed recesses with rusticated voussoirs and a plain band at the spring. The central opening is a double door of eight panels with a radial fanlight, a cornice head, and iron gates with an overhanging lamp holder. Keystones support a cornice with a broad band above containing balustraded panels beneath the first-floor windows. Stone architraves frame the first and second-floor windows, with pulvinated friezes and alternating triangular and segmental pediments over cornices to the first-floor windows. A stone-coped pediment above the stone cornice contains a clock face. The side sections feature stucco at ground floor with similar windows and doors; keystones support a cornice beneath a broad band at the first-floor sills, which continues across the central section. All first and second-floor windows are sashes with glazing bars, with the outer sections having gauged, flat brick arches. A gabled end of five bays faces the street.

The east wing (Boland House) is a copy of the west wing but includes a sunk basement, a wind-vane dial in the pediment instead of a clock, and lacks doors to the side sections or iron gates with an overhanging lamp holder to the central door. It has an unmatching, pedimented five-bay end facing the street.

The Chapel

The chapel occupies the centre block of the west wing and was designed by Richard Jupp around 1775, with remodelling of the sanctuary undertaken in 1959. It has an almost square plan with galleries on three sides and the altar at the west end. The chapel is approached through a narrow vestibule beneath the east gallery, which contains stairs leading to the galleries. The chapel proper consists of an aisle of four bays formed by Ionic columns supporting north and south galleries. A fifth bay to the west contains the sanctuary in the centre, a vestry to the north, and an organ chamber to the south.

The entablature above the columns features a dentil cornice and fluted frieze with paterae, which continues along the west wall, broken only by a round arch with a blue marble architrave above the altar. Round-arched stained-glass windows (later additions) light the central three bays of the sanctuary, while each gallery either side has a square-headed leaded window. Five sash windows serve the east gallery. Doors with radial fanlights open to the vestibule at the east end.

At the centre stands a shallow niche containing a monument in white marble to Thomas Guy by John Bacon, dated 1779. It depicts the founder assisting a sick man into his hospital, with the building shown in relief in the background. A decorative cast-iron railing forms a semi-circle around the monument. The gallery roof is groin-vaulted plaster supported on columns with foliage capitals. The main body of the chapel has a flat plaster ceiling with a circular motif at the centre, framed by groined semi-vaults.

The Quadrangle Ranges

South of the main entrance lies a quadrangle of rectangular plan with two inner courtyards separated by a loggia of ten bays with round-headed arches on stone piers running north to south. The elevations to the courtyards rise three storeys with an attic in the mansard roof. The east and west elevations span eight bays; the north and south elevations span seven bays. The ground floor features round-headed arches in stone with keystones and impost blocks, originally filled in around 1780 with windows and some doors. The upper floors are brick with segmental, gauged-brick arches to sash windows with glazing bars. Much of this work was rebuilt after war damage.

The chapel is a unique survival—the only 18th-century hospital chapel in England—and was restored in 1980.