The cottage the Rayners lived in was the only building in the whole of the lane before the isolation hospital was built near the southern end to towards the end of the century. The hospital is marked on old maps as Hospital for Infectious Diseases.
The Harrow Isolation Hospital, was built and financed by the surrounding Urban District Councils in 1895, and opened in 1896 for the “reception of cases of scarlet fever, diphtheria, enteric fever and Asiatic cholera”. It had 10 beds.
In 1905 a new Scarlet Fever Block was built at a cost of £1,900. It contained one ward with 6 beds and one with 4, doubling the bed capacity of the old Scarlet Fever Block, which was afterwards used for Diphtheria patients.
At the same time the administration and ambulance blocks were also enlarged. There was room for two disinfection carts as well as the two ambulances. The Hospital also had a Thresh disinfector. The cost of the works totalled £2,750.
Visits to patients were strictly controlled. Only in special circumstances and sanctioned by the Medical Officer or Sanitary Inspector, could visitors enter the ward. Visits were only possible on two afternoons a week and could last no longer than 15 minutes. Patients who were well enough to be on a full diet received 4 ounces of suet pudding three times a week.
In 1936 the Public Health Committee of Harrow Council resolved to replace the gas lighting with electric lighting in the room where operations were carried out. It was decided that, in view of the anticipated closure of the Hospital when a new isolation hospital was built, it was not necessary to modernise the rest of the buildings. By 1946 the Hospital had 25 beds.
Over the years, the hospital’s role evolved and it transitioned from an infectious diseases hospital to a geriatric facility, reflecting changes in public health needs.
The hospital joined the NHS in 1948 under the control of the Hendon Group Hospital Management Committee, part of the North West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board. The buildings were modernised and it was renamed the Roxbourne Hospital. In 1969 the Hospital became part of the Geriatric Unit at the newly built Northwick Park Hospital. The Hospital closed in 1993, with 51 beds.
The Hospital has now been demolished and the site now contains the Roxbourne Complex, a mental health care facility with two 14-bedded units, run by the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, and, at the south corner, the Roxbourne Medical Centre.
Rayners Lane 