National Hospital - West Elevation - contract drawing no. 7

However, by the early 1870s, the idea of a much larger hospital occupied the minds of the Board of the Charity as the reputation of the Hospital was rising rapidly and the facilities proved totally inadequate to the demand. This architects plan from 1883, is part of a major building programme that decade. In 1885 a new hospital opened on the footprint of what was 23-27 Queen Square and also 6-10 Powis Place. This included the Albany Wing - a memorial to the Duke of Albany who had played a key role in fundraising for the expansion. The Hospital now had 160 beds, and outpatient department for 200, as well as a Chapel. The Hospital was also the first to have day rooms and to host concerts and entertainments for patients, to have an electrical room, and one of the first to have a gymnasium. It was still funded by philanthropic donations and charitable giving.The frontage remains very similar today, only lacking the weather vane and cupola on the roof. The original plan, together with others from this period, is held in Queen Square Archives, and prints are available for sale in Queen Square Library.

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