Tuberculosis Bureau, 364-370 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Tuberculosis Bureau, 364-370 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 106036
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Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
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Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
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UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________Style: Neo-GeorgianPeriod: Inter-WarDATE: 1927-8;ASSOCIATIONS: Victorian government;DESIGNER: E. Evan Smith, Public Works Chief Architect.;BUILDER: G. Philips and Sons Pty Ltd..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of Significance364-370 Little Lonsdale StreetHistoryTuberculosis was thought a disease of the poor, due to overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, but it took on a more specific form when isolated as a virus in 1882. The Austin Hospital was established at Heidelberg, specifically to combat the disease.Twenty-one years later, T.B. was declared a notifiable disease in Melbourne and, in 1909, throughout the State. From that date, sanatoria, out-patient clinics and laboratories were established in Melbourne and in Bendigo, where the discovery of the disease's connection with respiratory infections among the city's mining population had inspired the initial legislation. A Director of Tuberculosis was appointed in 1927 to co-ordinate and extend existing State facilities combating T.B., coinciding with the erection of this building. Chest radiography(among Second War Armed Services recruits) was a further step taken to identify dormant tuberculosis and extended, in 1947 to the general community as a further part of the free service initiated for T.B. suffers in 1943. Many other services followed, achieving a reduction in the death rate from .19% in 1887 to .002% in the late 1960s.This building was erected as, and remains as, the tuberculosis (Women's Venereal Disease) annex to the earlier Health Department Building, adjoining, to the design of E. Evan Smith, Public Works Chief Architect. The builders were G. Philips and Sons Pty Ltd., and the Contract date, February, 1927.DescriptionTypically, for Smith, the neo-Georgian style was chosen with an austere symmetrical red brick parapeted facade, relieved only by quoining and voussoirs (implied in the brickwork), multi-paned windows and stepping of the pavilion-like elevation, to imply pavilions. The Georgian hip is concealed behind the parapet.Compared with more grand Georgian revival designs, like Smith's Victorian Police Depot, (St Kilda Road, 1926), this must be seen as a utilitarian design which (perhaps as a consequence) resembles the many Modern-Classical Second War structures designed by the Commonwealth, (i.e., Drill Halls).Inside, the circulation was cruciform in plan, with symmetrically arranged rooms (general office and treatment room) off the entry hall. The waiting room was beyond the direct access to three cubicles (X-ray). Two clinics lay on the east axis, separated by a common dark room, and at the opposite end, were the office and, what was described as, a `spare room' in the contract drawings. At the rear of the building was a free-standing film store (fire proofing). Beyond that, again, a two-storey annex was erected at a later date (1950?) with a similar but less formal character to the bureau. It held facilities for `mass radiography,' among a general duplication and enlargement of those in the bureau, and was probably intended to supplement the Chest X-ray programme.External IntegrityEntry fanlight and other details have been altered and new balustrading installed. Signs and light fittings added.StreetscapeCoincides with the more apparent neo-Georgian stylism at the V.D. Clinic adjoining and with the complex generally, in terms of fenestration, form and material.SignificanceA modest neo-Georgian design, which represents the first stage of a major government programme in Victoria to stop TB and forms a stylistic pair with the adjoining clinic..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM__________________________________________________PROVHM 8 HospitalsMelbourne Tuberculosis Bureau Little Lonsdale StPart of record series: Pre-Metric Building Plans ( 3686 )Most recent creating agency: Public Works Department (previously the Department of the Commissioner of Public Works)Record VPRS 3686/P0019, HM 8 Hospitals1927 to 1927__________________________________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1927.….Forms of application may be obtained from E MARTIN, Secretary. Tuberculosis Bureau, 451 Little Lonsdale street,.1928Construction and Local Government Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1913 - 1930)Wednesday 11 January 1928 - Page 18PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENTTENDERSJanuary 19 — Melbourne — Erection of Tuberculosis Bureau, Little Lonsdale Street….Julyhttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205471700CHEST CLINICS;STATE GOVERNMENT SCHEME.Minister Opens New Wing at Janefield...` The central clinic - in Little Lonsdale-street was almost completed, and it was proposed to erect two more in the thickly populated centres of the metropolis, and to establish chest clinics also in country -centres like Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and other towns. …'.`The Argus':Wednesday 3 October 1928The new tuberculosis bureau has been completed, and, is now being equipped. A clinical officer has been appointed, and three nurses, will be engaged, whoso duty will be to supervise patients at their own homes, and to examine contacts with a view to detecting the disease at an early and curable stage. Mont Park Sanatorium is approaching completion, and the sanatorium at Greenvale has been renovated, and a water supply is in course of being provided from the ' Metropolitan Board of Works mains. An X-ray plant and a laboratory hove also been installed at Heatherton. The importance of infant welfare centres is generally recognised as one of the most practical methods of building up the nation. .…..1945https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206869196HOSPITAL TO OPEN SOONT.B. Patients FirstSome of the wards of the Central Hospital— the former Royal Melbourne Hospital — would probably be opened before the end of the month, the administrator (Mr. C. L. McVilly) said. The admission of patients, he added, would depend largely on the progress of renovations and alterations entailed in adapting the hospital to its new use. Tuberculosis patients would probably be the first to be admitted. A cancer institute, tuberculosis clinic, venereal disease clinic and a general emergency section will be housed In the hospital, which was acquired by the Government at a cost of £549,000. The work of reconditioning has proved extensive and will continue for some time.Apart from the renovation and repainting of wards and staff quarters, and repairs to the .building, some structural alterations have been necessary. Most important of these has been the enlarging of the section for the treatment of venereal disease. When completed this section will absorb the clinic now conducted by the Health department in Little Lonsdale-street….DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1924 no1930-1944 Health Department Tuberculosis Bureau
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 106036 | 1 PDF : 1,113 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |