The Boots building was built in 1912 in the Arts and Crafts style. It was Boots’ main site in the city for decades until the company moved into the Eagle Centre. Florence Nightingale was a pioneering nurse. At the beginning of the Crimean War she was sent to manage a military hospital at Scutari. Appalled by the dirty wards and desperate lack of supplies, she set about improving conditions. In 1860, Florence founded the Nightingale School for Nurses at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, the first of its kind in the world. The same year she met with Derbyshire General Infirmary consultant Dr Ogle, and in 1869 a new hospital, built to incorporate her suggestions, was opened in Derby, and a statue of Florence Nightingale placed in its grounds.