Does St Mary Abbotts Hospital Kensington still exist?

Answer 1

A former workhouse, St Mary Abbott's Hospital in Marloes Road, Kensington, London, W8 - where I was born 69 years ago next week - no longer exists, other than one listed building that has been retained in what is now a very exclusive, gated community of luxury apartments. I am in the process of trying to find out just when the main parts of the hospital were demolished.

John Sedgmore Blundell - Harrow Mdx May 2009. New User. Adding to the above, my brother David (deceased) was born at St Mary Abbott's Hospital at 28 Marloes Road in November 1926, as was I myself in May 1929. It is nice to know that at least one listed building still exists. Will have a look next time I am in that part of town.

ADDITION - James de Buitlear (now in Sweden) I was born there in November 1961. Later as a police officer on B District at Chelsea (BC Division) we were quite regularly called to the psychiatric unit at the hospital up to the late 80s to either pick people up or drop people off. It was in the early 90s that the psych unit closed down and demolition work for the flats commenced. In about 93-94 I remember attending the new luxury flats to dleiver domestic security/crime prevention advice to residents.

So although I can't give an exact date for the closure of the various remaining hospital units nor an exact date for the commencement of demolition I'm 100% sure it was around the early 90s.

ADDITION- Tom Flynn- Nottingham May 2010. I worked on the design of the flats in around 89-90. The architects were called Norman and Dawbarn, based in Percy Street off Tottenham Court Road.( famous for the design of the BBC TV centre in White City) We were able to reuse the Dutch gables from the original hospital building on the garden walls to some of the blocks. Sadly, I never got to really see the finished article because it's too exclusive for the likes of me! I heard that Jimi Hendrix died in that hospital, so I wanted to call one of the blocks "Hendrix Court".

Hope this helps. Try looking at it on Google Earth, look for Marloes Road.

Addition - Phillip Perry, Shepherd's Bush - London

Further to earlier answers, I was born there in June 1966, and my younger brother in December 1971, he was one of the last to be born there as it closed shortly afterwards as far as maternity was concerned.

I thought all of the buildings had gone, I was there yesterday (10/08/10), it's now a 'gated community' called Kensington Green.

I wanted to have a look around and take some pictures, but decided against it.

The only original building left along with the perimeter wall is the gatehouse, which is the main security lodge, that has a font and a plaque built into the wall in Marloes Road.

Here's reference to an article saying it closed finally in 1992:

http://digilondon.com/location/st-mary-abbots-hospital

British Library article from 1986

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50331#s24

Addition: I was born there in 1954 and wondered if any old photos of the hospital exist as I haven't been able to find any online?

Addition: I was born there in 1943 (well, actually, in the nearest tube station during an air raid where all ambulatory patients were moved). Photos of the hospital during its glory days can be found at:

http://www.Flickr.com/photos/backmanmal/3999092540/