The foundation stone was laid in 1930 by Sri Krishnadevaraja Wodeyar and the main building was constructed by Boraiah Basavaiah & Sons, a famous contractor of Mysore. It was further expanded in 1940. The Krishnarajendra Hospital ( K R Hospital ) was constructed at a cost of Rs. 3,65,000/- and started as a 100 bedded Hospital with X-ray apparatus. In contrast, Cheluvamba hospital, earlier known as Vanivilas Hospital which was built in 1880 with 24 beds, was upgraded to a 200 bedded hospital in1939. It was further expanded in 1954 and the new OPD Block of OBG was built in 1997. New facilities have been continuously added on to the existing infrastructure, but the most impressive of all is the new multistoried OPD building with its ultra-modern air-conditioned ICCU which along with the medical wards on upper floors was added on to the K R Hospital complex in 1998. Other relatively new structures include Blood Bank and Burns Ward.
K R Hospital has a total bed capacity of around 1330 beds which includes 335 beds in General Medicine, 313 in General Surgery and about 500 in other specialties like ENT, Ophthalmology, Urology, Plastic Surgery, Psychiatry and others.