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Sick Children's Hospital, Edinburgh - Administrative Block (perspective view)

Draughtsman: Browne, George Washington, Sir, PPRSA RSA · 1853-1939

Browne exhibited a work titled Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh - original design for Meadowside site (abandoned) and another titled Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh - design for Rillbank site at the 1893 RSA Annual Exhibition (cats 498 and 499 respectively). The present work is a subsequent development. Concerns were raised during the 1850s of the need for a dedicated hospital to help combat child mortality in the city which stood at an alarming rate of 1 in 13 for children under five. The first public meeting on the subject was held in 1859 and the following year the first hospital was opened. In 1863, three years after the first hospital opened, services moved to a new customer-built hospital, Meadowside House. The new hospital was described as ‘commodious and well ventilated’ providing five wards and space for 48 inpatients. The hard work of Directors and staff was recognised when Queen Victoria bestowed her patronage - the first children’s hospital in the UK to receive the honour. The death of a nurse there following a severe outbreak of Typhoid in the City in 1900 led to fears that the hospital at Meadowside was infected and resulted in calls for a new hospital and the original scheme was to develop the exisiting site at Meadowside. On 31 October 1895 Princess Beatrice graciously performed the opening ceremony of Washington Browne's new Hospital at Rillbank on behalf of her mother, Queen Victoria, the Hospital’s Patron. At the short ceremony, Mr Hall Blyth, the Chairman of the Directors, spoke about the history of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children services in Edinburgh, explaining that up to this date over 180,000 sick children had received treatment. He proudly stated “The building which Her Royal Highness is about to declare open is one of the most perfect hospitals in the United Kingdom.” The hospital continued to expand and to lead the way in many aspects of paediatric medicine. During the war years women were welcomed onto the medical team and the staff coped with reduced supplies and evacuation. The various additions, although essential to the continued development of services, made the Hospital a patchwork of add-on buildings as the Directors purchased houses in Rillbank Terrace and Millerfield Place.
By the mid 1980s the hospital was again in need of more space and a successful appeal raised the funds to build a new wing. The three floor extension was formally opened in June 1995 and the vacated wards created a new Paediatric Intensive Care unit. Further improvements were deemed necessary and a new facility, a joint build with the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, was due to open in 2017 at Little France. Its aim was to ensure that children and young people benefit from closer collaboration between paediatric specialists and their adult service counterparts working in the Royal Infirmary. Children, young people, families and staff have all been actively involved in the design process. (summary of history from http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/OurOrganisation/AboutUs/OurHistory/Pages/RHSCHistory.aspx)