Bessborough Centre, London

Architect	F Milton Harvey
Date Built	1937
Location	Bessborough Road, Pimlico
Description
This building, on Bessborough Road in Pimlico, was designed by the architect F Milton Harvey who also designed the buildings of the adjacent Tachbrook Housing Estate.  When it was opened on the 25th of November 1937 by H M Queen Elizabeth, it was the Westminster Maternity and Child Welfare Centre. An entry on the National Archive website points out that, ".... The Westminster Health Society had acquired a house in Bessborough Street in 1919 to provide a maternity and child welfare centre for the area. The number of attendances of children at the centre grew rapidly from 3,068 in 1921 to 5,189 in 1935 and the number of home visits from 1,898 to 4,758. Westminster City Council therefore demolished the old building and constructed a specially designed centre on the same site.  The maternity and child welfare clinic was located on the ground floor and included an ante-natal clinic, demonstration and weighing room, doctor's room, and Health Visitors' room. The first and second floors of the building were devoted to a day nursery, including three bathrooms, kitchen and dining rooms, staff bedrooms and night nurseries. On the third floor were additional nurses' bedrooms, a small laundry and drying room."

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