Rose Square (The Bromptons)

Royal Brompton Hospital was the first hospital dedicated to treatment for consumption and diseases of the chest. It was founded in 1841 at the instigation of a young solicitor, Philip Rose (1816-1883) who formed a committee to establish the hospital. Rose, who was later knighted, lived in No.41 Roland Gardens. The hospital began life at the Manor House in Chelsea but the site was too small and the Governors obtained a 99-year lease from the Trustees of The Henry Smith Charity on a 3 acre site on Fulham Road for the new hospital. Following a competition won by architect Frederick Francis, the earliest part of the hospital to be built in 1844-6 was the main and western part, later the North Block. The foundation stone was laid in 1844 by Prince Albert, followed by a fund-raising event at Royal Hospital, Chelsea (q.v.), sponsored by Queen Victoria, who was a Patron of the new hospital. Resembling 'a large Tudor Almshouse', the hospital was a generally symmetrical H-shaped arrangement with a central battlemented tower, its chimneys replicating those found at Hampton Court Palace (q.v.). Sir Henry Foulis, a Yorkshire landowner, donated the hospital's Chapel of St Luke, which designed by Edward Buckton Lamb and built in 1849-50. Foulis was Chairman of the Hospital Management Committee from 1849-75. A West Wing to match the original building was added in 1852. The original entrance to the hospital was at the west side and had a gatehouse lodge, now demolished.

In 1853 the Governors purchased the freehold of the 4-acre plot to the west of the hospital from the Harrington-Villars estate and granted building leases to Charles Delay who built Foulis Terrace, Neville Street, Neville Gardens, 9-17 Onslow Gardens and 80-108 Fulham Road. The freehold of the hospital site was purchased from Smith's Charity in 1866 and the hospital estate remained a single unit until recent years. In 1871 the hospital received a significant bequest from Cordelia Angelica Read, as a result of which the hospital buildings south of Fulham Road were built in 1879-92.

After the hospital vacated the site north of Fulham Road, it was sold and redeveloped by Northacre plc, the company responsible for Earls Terrace (q.v.). New blocks to the east and west of the main building were built in the style of the original and St Luke's Chapel was restored. Landscaping surrounds the buildings, with garden areas around the blocks and in inner courtyards, some named to reflect the former history of the site, such as Foulis Terrace Gardens.