The Samaritan Hospital for Women in Belfast was founded in 1872 by Dr. W. K. McClordie. Two years later, in 1874, the current building was erected thanks to the generosity of Edward Bonn, a notable benefactor of Belfast’s charitable institutions. In 1898, Mr. Forster Green further enhanced the hospital by adding two isolation wards.
The hospital, located on Lisburn Road, is a three-story building. The ground floor houses waiting and consulting rooms, a dispensing room, and rooms for nurses. The first floor contains a large and a small ward along with nurses’ bedrooms, while the second floor features two wards, an operating room, and additional nurses’ bedrooms. Behind the main building are two isolation wards, each with four beds, reserved for cancerous and suppurating cases. The hospital’s total capacity is thirty beds, with twenty-five in regular use.
If you fancy learning more about the Queen’s Quarter, come on my tour of the area! Details are here.