Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1933 Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, opened the Dame Gertrude Young Memorial Convalescent Home.  It had accommodation for 26 patients - 8 males, 10 females and 8 children.

The building, with 4 acres of gardens, had been bequeathed to the Central London Throat and Ear Hospital by the Hospital's Vice-President and a friend of Florence Nightingale, Col. Sir John Smith Young, on the proviso that it be used as a convalescent home for the Hospital.  A liberal endowment fund was also bequeathed for its maintenance.

During WW2 the gardens provided vegetables for patients in the Home and its parent Hospital.

It joined the NHS in 1948 as part of the newly formed Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital.

The Convalescent Home closed in September 1963 and, by the following year,  the building had become a geriatric hospital for the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board, with 19 beds.

By 1967 it had 12 beds.

In 1976 it became a hostel for patients awaiting operation.  It finally closed in 1977.

Present status (April 2008)

Dame Gertrude Young House opened in 1984.  It provides accommodation for 20 vulnerable homeless men and is run by Hestia.