Frimley
On 13 September 1900 the Hospital acquired 20 acres (81,000 m2) of planted forestry at Chobham Ridge (which is 400 feet (120 m) above sea level), two miles (3 km) from Frimley Railway Station for £3,900. The architect, Edwin T. Hall, designed a two-storied stellate block, rising to three-stories for the centre, the four radial pavilions would contain the majority of wards, most of which would be single bedded and the ability to wheel the beds onto a terrace to "be under the full influence of the sunshine and the atmosphere." A second group of buildings was to contain dining rooms, recreation rooms, kitchens and offices and accommodation for medical staff. Besides accommodation for staff, 2 houses and a nurses block, no further buildings were erected on the site until its closure in 1985.
The formal opening of the sanatorium was on 25 June 1904 with the ceremony performed by the Prince of Wales (later King George V), but because of unresolved problems regarding heating, plumbing and staff the first patients weren’t admitted until March 1905.
Marcus Paterson, who had been a house physician at the Brompton from 1901, accepted a post at Frimley in 1905, becoming the Medical Superintendent in January 1906. Paterson was known to say, “it would make them (the patients) more resistant to the disease by improving their physical condition.” To this end he introduced what was one of the first attempts at systematic rehabilitation, which involved patients in undertaking physical labour
At an International Congress on Tuberculosis held in 1908 in Washington, USA the $1,000 first prize was shared between Frimley, for a model of the sanatorium, which had partly been made by patients, and an American institution. Further awards of $500 went to Paterson for his essay on Frimley and $1,000 to Arthur Latham, an assistant-physician at The Brompton for his paper on the treatment of more advanced cases of tuberculosis.
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