I HAVE done some research on Victoria House, Eign Street, Hereford, and I believe this building should be left to the community to use as a community hub.
Victoria house was built by William Peake, who was born and died in Hereford, for the surgeon Francis Woodley Lindsay, who established the Herefordshire and South Wales Institution in July 1882 in Commercial Road, opposite the church.
The hospital became too small so the hospital committee bought the ground in Eign Street and, deciding that Lindsay needed to be closer to the eye and ear hospital, had Victoria House built for the surgeon.
It should be restored to its former glory in his memory as without Lindsay we would not have had the care for our eyes and ears in the many past years.
If Lindsay was alive today he would approved of the public making good use of his former home.
English Heritage told me: “It is acknowledged that Victoria House makes a strong contribution to the conservation area and has local interest for being the residence of the founder of the eye hospital.”
We need to start to stand up and start fighting any developers taking our heritage away. Too much has gone already.
GAY CROSS, Greenland Road, Hereford.
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