St George's Hospital was opened in the original Lanesborough House, the home in London of the Viscounts Lanesborough, in 1733. By the 1800s the hospital was falling into disrepair. Lanesborough House was demolished to make way for a new 350-bed facility. Building began in 1827 under architect William Wilkins. The new hospital was operational by 1844, serving continuously as a hospital until transferred to Tooting, south London, in the 1970s, leaving the Hyde Park Corner premises vacant in 1980. The Duke of Westminster took up an option to buy the building for £6,000 (its value in the nineteenth century).