Fountain: Lord Riddell - fountain
Erection date: 1931
{ Around rim in two circuits:}:
1931: This fountain has been erected and the courtyard beautified by the Honorary Treasurer Sir Albert Levy who has also endowed a fund for their maintenance as a permanent memorial of thanksgiving for the restoration to health of the President of the hospital the Rt. Hon. Lord Riddell.
A cherub stands atop the fountain clutching a dolphin which appears capable of spouting water but was not obliging on our visit.
This fountain was removed in 1938 and kept in storage until August 1994, when it was reinstated by the Eastman Dental Hospital.
Site: Royal Free Hospital (3 memorials)
WC1, Gray's Inn Road, Royal Free Hospital
What luck that a dental hospital should be housed in a building sporting dentile cornicing! There is a lot of history about this building and institute at UCL Eastman Dental Institute.
A caretaker told us these buildings used to be a barracks - there was a ramp for the horses to access the basement and posts to which they were tied still exist down there. He also said it is scheduled for redevelopment. We confirm that in 1842-4 the Royal Free Hospital moved here into ex-Army Barracks - see the splendid Lost Hospitals for more information and photographs.
The development plaque is in the entrance passage. The fountain and Sussex wing memorial are in the courtyard.
