Is this the forgotten location of
Florence Nightingale's "Little War Office"?
This building, 22 Albemarle Street in the heart of London's Mayfair, may be where Florence Nightingale had her headquarters while she was investigating why so many soldiers had died of sickness during the Crimean War, and were still dying unnecessarily in their barracks in Britain.
There are letters written by Florence Nightingale from 22 Albemarle Street in February 1857, at the time when her official investigation was nearing its dramatic conclusion as described in Florence Nightingale: Avenging Angel. Until recently it was widely believed that she lived and worked in the collection of houses between Cork Street and Old Burlington Street that formed the Burlington Hotel. Those buildings were demolished in 1936. Her letters usually gave "30 Old Burlington Street" as the sender's address, but her biographer Hugh Small believes that she sometimes continued to use that as a postal address even when overbooking forced her to move to nearby buildings used by the Burlington Hotel as annexes. He believes that she put her real address on some letters because she was expecting the recipient to call on her in person (one of the letters from 22 Albemarle Street begins "Dear Sir" and historian Sue Goldie says that it was probably written to Dr. Sutherland, Nightingale's assistant and personal physician).
It is not yet clear how long she stayed at 22 Albemarle Street but in any case this is an important historical landmark and is the only survivor of the many buildings occupied by Nightingale in this district where she spent most of her life. The building has been part of Asprey's jewellery store since the early 1860s. In June 1998 Asprey's announced plans to carry out major refurbishment of the store. In August 1998 the Department of Culture, Media and Sport added 22 Albemarle Street to the list of buildings of architectural or historic interest, so that any alteration must have special permission and must take account of the building's association with Florence Nightingale.