Royal Star and Garter Home, Richmond

The Royal Star and Garter Home, Richmond on Richmond Hill, in Richmond, London was built between 1921 and 1924, to a design by Sir Edwin Cooper, based on a 1915 plan by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, to provide accommodation and nursing facilities for 180 seriously injured servicemen.

The Royal Star and Garter Homes, the charitable trust running the home, announced in 2011 that it would be selling the building as it did not now meet modern requirements and could not be easily or economically upgraded. The building, which is Grade II listed, was sold in April 2013 to a housing developer, London Square, for £50 million.

The trust opened a new home in Solihull, West Midlands, in 2008 and the remaining residents at the Richmond home moved in August 2013 to a new purpose-built building in Langley Avenue, Surbiton. The intention is to open a third home on a site in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

History


During World War I an old hotel on this site, the Star and Garter, which had been a popular place of entertainment in the 18th and 19th centuries but had closed in 1906, was taken over and used as a military hospital.

The site was then donated to Queen Mary (consort of George V) in support of her plans to establish a home for paralysed and permanently disabled soldiers. The hotel banqueting hall and ballroom were temporarily used to house disabled soldiers, but the site was found to be unsuitable for their specialised needs and the hotel buildings were demolished in 1919 and rebuilt as the Star and Garter Home. The new building was dedicated in 1924 as the Women of the Empire's Memorial of the Great War. It was formally opened by George V and Queen Mary on 10 July 1924.

In 1948 residents of the home took part in a forerunner of the Paralympic Games, the first national athletic event for disabled athletes, organised by Dr Ludwig Guttmann.

Famous residents have included Nancy Wake, who fought with the French Resistance and who lived in the home from 2003 until her death in August 2011.

The Star and Garter Home received its royal charter in 1979, adding the prefix "Royal" to its name. Since the opening of the second home at Solihull in 2009 the charity has used a plural form of the name, as "The Royal Star and Garter Homes".