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Walworth Clinic, Walworth Road, London SE17

The former Public Health Centre at Southwark was one of a series of pioneering health centres built at the end of the 1930s, in advance of the 1946 National Health Services Act which made their construction a duty of health authorities. Its foundation stone was laid on 11 July 1936 and the building opened on 25 September 1937.

A plaque on the building's facade bears a powerful quotation translated from Cicero: “The health of the people is the highest law”. The new building brought all the borough's health services under one roof, prefiguring the integrated, cradle-to-grave ethos of the 1948 NHS. The sculptural group that crowns the facade is a striking emblem of the centre's focus on mothers and children in what was a deprived part of London in the interwar years.

The design, by the Borough Engineer Percy Smart, is admired for its external massing, jazzy, Deco-style detailing and good quality materials and craftsmanship. The rear part of the building appears now to be a training centre for jobseekers. The building appears in front of Newington Library in Stephen McKay’s long view TQ3278 : Walworth Road, Walworth.

The Walworth Clinic is listed Grade II; English Heritage has a full and interesting history and description at:
LinkExternal link
This shared description is largely composed of extracts from it.

Original author: Robin Stott, 7 February 2015
by Robin Stott

Created: Sat, 7 Feb 2015, Updated: Sat, 7 Feb 2015


13 images use this description:

TQ3278 : The former Walworth Clinic may find another use, Walworth Road, Walworth, London by Robin Stott
2015
TQ3278 : Change in Walworth Road, Walworth, London by Robin Stott
2015
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, Walworth Road entrance by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, Larcom Street entrance by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, corner of Larcom Road and Walworth Road by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic – blue plaque for Charles Babbage, corner of Larcom Street by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, Larcom Street stair tower by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Rear of Walworth Clinic in shadow, Ethel Street, seen across Larcom Street by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, Walworth Road frontage details by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, Walworth Road – crowning sculpture by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, Larcom Street entrance and stair tower by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic – blue plaque for Michael Faraday at the Larcom Street entrance by Robin Stott
2014
TQ3278 : Walworth Clinic, Walworth Road frontage by Robin Stott
2014


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