Spaces to become regularly accessible to the public for first time in building’s 300-year history
Purcell has unveiled its completed restoration of the grade I-listed North Wing of St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
The practice has restored two spaces in the three-century-old building, the Great Hall and a grand staircase featuring two of William Hogarth’s most celebrated but least-seen paintings.
The spaces will become regularly accessible to the general public for the first time since the wing was built in 1732 to the designs of James Gibb, the architect who also designed the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford and the St Martin-in-the-Fields church on Trafalgar Square.
The £9.5m restoration, led by Barts Heritage and supported by a £5.3m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, follows years of decline to the building fabric.
The project involved extensive repairs to the exterior of the building including its roof, stonework, railings and more than 160 sash windows.
The two Hogarth paintings, The Pool of Bethesda and The Good Samaritan, were also painstakingly restored, with other interior furnishings repaired including decorative plasterwork and donor boards in the Great Hall recording the names of the hospital’s past benefactors.
From today, the Great Hall and the Hogarth Stair will be open to visitors for two days a week, while the Great Hall will serve as both a new cultural venue with a programme of events throughout the year and a bookable space for commercial hire.
Barts Heritage chief executive Will Palin said the project, called Sharing Historic Barts, had brought together leading craftspeople from across the UK to bring the building’s interiors back to life.
“We have safeguarded the Hogarth Stair and Great Hall for generations to come, and ensured that this hidden gem will welcome the public as a place for art, culture and wellbeing at the heart of the City,” he said.”
Purcell acted as lead designer on the scheme, which was built by main contractor Coniston with conservational specialists Paine & Stewart.
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