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Mary Ward House (number 5 Tavistock Place) is an architecturally significant building, completed in 1898 by architects Smith and Brewer to house the Mary Ward Settlement (originally called the Passmore Edwards Settlement), founded by the novelist Mary Ward (better known as Mrs Humphrey Ward). The settlement was a residential community for lecturers and students, who were required to give their time to a community centre where local people could attend lectures and workshops, join special interest groups and self-help groups, and access a legal advice service. 9 Tavistock Place, adjacent to the House, was built later to accommodate the expansion of the Settlement, housing the first school for physically handicapped children in England.
Due to financial difficulties, the Mary Ward Settlement were forced to sell the building to the Nuffield Trust and lease it from them. In the 1960s the National Institute for Social Work began leasing Mary Ward House and 9 Tavistock Place, at first sub-letting part of it to the Mary Ward Settlement. They purchased the house outright in 1980, and the Mary Ward Settlement (by now called the Mary Ward Centre) moved to nearby 42/43 Queen Square.
The Mary Ward House Trust was established in 1997 by the National Institute for Social Work as part of their attempts to secure funding to restore Mary Ward House and improve disabled access. The aims of the Trust were:
to preserve for the benefit of the nation Mary Ward House and 9 Tavistock Place;
to support restoration and repair of these properties;
to promote access to the buildings;
to promote access to information about the buildings;
to make Mary Ward House wheelchair accessible;
and to make the historical features of the building more widely known.
Plans to carry out work on the house were developed from 1994, with the first of several approaches to the Heritage Lottery Fund. In 1996 an international architectural competition was held which resulted in the appointment of an architect, Karen Butti of Patricia Brock Associates. The Heritage Lottery Fund provided a grant towards feasibility stage work and 'The Mary Ward House Project' was begun. Unfortunately, the project became more complicated and expensive than was originally envisaged and in July 1999 it was announced that the Heritage Lottery Fund would not provide support. The Project was therefore closed without being implemented, and the National Institute for Social Work sold Mary Ward House to a private individual. The Mary Ward House Trust continued to monitor the House and promote information about its important historical features, before winding down in 2007.