St John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin

This is a hospital built in 1897 by Frank T. Verity, originally constructed as the French Club. It is built of painted terracotta and exhibits an unusual Franco-Flemish Renaissance style appropriate to its original use. The building is three storeys high with two additional attic storeys set within a gable. It has five windows across its facade. The rusticated ground floor features a central, columned entranceway and side entrances with half columns and obelisk finials, along with volute and strapwork crestings. A three-storey mullioned-transomed oriel window sits above the central entrance, with strapwork panelled aprons beneath it. Flanking this are paired mullioned windows on the third floor. Stepped attic windows are set within an ornate, full-width gable consisting of six steps, featuring scrolls and a crowning obelisk finial. The building was acquired and adapted by St. John's Hospital between 1934 and 1935. Its prominent elevation from Leicester Square closes the view down Leicester Street.