A LARGE BRICK edifice with white stone trimmings stands on the corner of Woodfield Road and the larger Harrow Road. Built in 1902, it now houses Westminster Register Office, but this has not always been the case. A clue to its former purpose can be seen on a brick pillar on one side of a now disused entrance to the building on Woodfield Road. In fading painted lettering, one can see the words “Guardians Offices”.

A somewhat difficult to read metal plaque on the staircase leading up to the building’s main entrance on Harrow Road gives a history of this elegant house. It was opened in 1902 as the then new offices of the Paddington Guardians, who supervised the running of the local workhouse. The Paddington Workhouse was built on a bank of the Grand Union Canal in 1846, and extended in 1868. According to an informative website (www.workhouses.org.uk/Paddington/):

“One of the labour tasks for able-bodied inmates at Paddington was stone breaking.”

In 1914, all the inmates of the workhouse were taken to the Marylebone Workhouse, and the Paddington establishment was turned into a military hospital that specialised in the care of men without limbs. In 1930, the place became Paddington General Hospital, and after 1986 it was demolished.

Returning to the building on Harrow Road, its new purpose came into being in 1965 after the original town hall on Paddington Green had been demolished to make place for the then new Westway. The council offices were moved into the former Guardians’ office building. In 1999, the building was demolished leaving intact only the grand façade we can see today. The 1902 façade is attached to newer buildings that contain the Register Offices in addition to residential flats managed by Paddington Churches Housing Association.

Despite its many reincarnations, the gatepost with its fading painted lettering is a reminder of the building’s original role.