The Cleveland Street Workhouse - one of the last surviving London workhouses and one of the most historically substantial - is in imminent danger!

Located in the West End, the Georgian block (about a quarter of the structure) was given official protection in 2011 following international protests (and a petition for which we thank all signatories). However, the substantial Victorian Nightingale Wards, most of the side houses and the chapel/mortuary are now targeted for demolition. University College London Hospital (UCLH) Trust - one of the largest property owners in southern Camden - plan to replace them with over-scaled and unsympathetic higher-rises.
 
Obliterating these parts of the Workhouse site would be an irreplaceable loss, as this complex is of tremendous historical significance. Charles Dickens lived almost next door for years, and Oliver Twist is believed to have been inspired by it; Florence Nightingale, who was a nurse at the now destroyed and sadly missed Middlesex Hospital opposite, was the pioneering force behind the design of the attached wards; and influential figures of the time, including Louisa Twining, were inspired by this workhouse to lead the institutional advancement that brought about the demise of the workhouse system nationwide.
 
This workhouse complex is the last of its kind in central London. Complete workhouses with intact ‘Nightingale wards’ are extremely rare and its solid functional buildings are a remarkable testimony of the lives of the dispossessed highlighted by Dickens but under-represented in architectural preservation.  Allowing most of the Cleveland Street Workhouse to be demolished endorses the eradication of the history of the poorest - tangibly still interred here as the workhouse grounds are a deep graveyard. The new plans would necessitate the insensitive removal of the remains of thousands of London's forgotten poorest.

Development - out of character and scale - must not go ahead: an important part of London’s history, well worth preserving, would be destroyed. University College London Hospitals have other sites where large-scale development could take place. Camden Council Heritage and Planning departments should refuse to allow the destruction of any further heritage assets in the borough, having already given so many of them away in the last few decades, particularly since Camden Council has the legal option to purchase this site from the owners for just £1 and grant its preservation! These durable buildings could easily be converted into useful housing.