The History of the Dreadnought Building
Until the Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital was built between 1764 and 1768, sick and injured seamen were cared for in parts of the Royal Naval Hospital. The Hospital closed in 1869 when there were only six patients left, when it was then taken over by the Seamen's Hospital Society in 1870. From 1871 to 1872, the Society had three hospital ships on the Thames with the last of these being the Dreadnought.
The Dreadnought ship was abandoned in 1872 when the remaining patients were transferred into the Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital. The building was also the administrative HQ of the Seamen's Hospital Society and much research was carried out into tropical diseases.
The hospital held up to 256 patients in 64 four-man wards, for its time the hospital was progressive with separate wards for medical and surgical patients. Between 1907 and 1914 partitions were removed in order to create larger wards which would house six patients each.
The hospital closed following war damage and in 1946; following the creation of the National Health Service, it passed into the care of the NHS. Some repair work was carried out before the handover, including the construction of an outpatient's department and a casualty department, but further repairs didn't take place until 1957.
The building continued as a hospital until it closed in 1986, after which it fell into disrepair with damp, dry and wet rot problems.
Shortly after this, ownership was transferred to the University of Greenwich.
The Dreadnought Hospital Ship
Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital
A research lab in the Dreadnought Hospital
Patient's on a rooftop of the hospital, having open air treatment for Tuberculosis
An original lantern from the Dreadnought Ship, two were remounted at either end of the colonnade
