[1] The original hospital was designed by Boulton Mainwaring in the neoclassical style, built in yellow brick and opened in September 1757.

[1] The windows were flanked by full-height Doric order pilasters supporting an entablature and a pediment with a clock in the tympanum.

[3] In February 2015 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council acquired the old hospital for £9 million and announced plans to convert it into a new "civic centre" to which it would relocate from its existing premises at Mulberry Place.

[4][5] The project was intended to bring wider regeneration benefits to the Tower Hamlets area.

[8] The work is being undertaken by Bouygues at a cost of £109.5 million to a design by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.