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The Building
Building History
The Royal Society of Medicine
In 1805, twenty-six members of the Medical Society of London, founded in 1773, broke away to form a new medical society, the Medical and Chirurgical Society of London.
The Society's place in British medical practice was recognised when it received from King William IV in 1834, a Charter of Incorporation as the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. In 1907, fifteen specialist societies agreed to dissolve and merge with the Society to create the Royal Society of Medicine. Honorary Fellows of the RSM have included Darwin, Pasteur, Jenner and Freud.
The newly formed RSM needed a larger building and in 1909 the site at the corner of Wimpole Street and Henrietta Street (renamed Henrietta Place in 1938) became available for redevelopment.
The building lease on the site was obtained by the RSM in December 1909 and the old houses at 2-5 Henrietta Street were demolished by Messrs Holloway in May 1910.
G Godson and Sons were contracted to erect "a hall and other buildings" on the site under the guidance of the consulting architect John Belcher, an established leading Edwardian Baroque architect, which was completed in June 1912.
1 Wimpole Street was opened for the RSM by King George V and Queen Mary in May 1912.
Ongoing refurbishment
In 1953 the building saw the addition of a fourth floor and the extension of the Library to the second floor.
In 1981 the RSM acquired the adjoining building which was designed by Sir Henry Tanner (1908-09). This extension allowed the RSM to extend its premises and facilities within the shell of the former post office building. In 1986 the Society occupied an extended and refurbished house, opened on 2 July 1986 by HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.
The building underwent further extensive remodelling between 2003 and 2004 resulting in the Main Lecture Theatre, strengthened floors, refurbishment of the Library and the reopening of the Henrietta Place entrance.
