Melbourne Hospital, later Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, 204-216 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
Melbourne Hospital, later Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, 204-216 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 105750
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
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.
General notes:
RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________Style: Neo-BaroquePeriod: EdwardianConstruction date: 1911-1916Architect: J. J. & E. J. ClarkBuilder: Duncan, John C; Peters and Hetherington et al.Notable features: 1. Landscape elements, conifer, poplars, elm. 2. Remnants from previous development (see morgue, north east corner).VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTER H0956see https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/65263Statement of SignificanceTower (210 Lonsdale Street) only structure still extant.The remaining structures of what was built as the Melbourne Hospital are of State significance as evidence of the largest and most complex hospital built in Victoria before World War 1, and one of the most innovative examples of the Edwardian free Style in the state.The pavilion principle, combined with multi-storey planning to this extent was unique in Australia, and resulted in a substantial amount of open space and planting areas at ground level into which the buildings were set- a highly unusual form for the central city.The three pavilions remaining comprised two ward blocks and one combined ward block and administration/entry. They were the most decorative blocks and demonstrate the symmetry of a building complex which once covered an entire city block. The ward blocks incorporate wrought-iron balconies which were once occupied by patients' beds and hence still demonstrate the turn-of-the-century interest in fresh air as a healing agent.Commensurate with its role as the leading hospital in Victoria, the Melbourne Hospital was the most up-to-date with regard to facilities and planning, and occupied a central place in the heart of the city. Designed by J J & E J Clark and built between 1910 and 1916, the bold red brick blocks of the complex topped by turrets and towers, set above a bluestone wall, palisade fence and garden behind, once comprised a significant landmark in Swanston and Lonsdale Streets.Along with Flinders Street Station and the City Baths (designed by the Clarks in 1902), the Melbourne Hospital was an Edwardian landmark in a city noted for its Victorian architecture. The Melbourne Hospital was the culminating work in the long career of notable architect J J Clark whose first major design was the treasury Building in 1857.The site and buildings are also significant for having been occupied by the Melbourne (later Royal Melbourne) Hospital from 1846-1946, and then by the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital (later Medical Centre), an institution established in 1896 by, and for, the women of Victoria.Classified: 'Local' 09/12/1982Revised: 'Regional' 01/05/1986Revised: 03/08/1998Demolished: 1990.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONS 2291f.. Also source 77.DARYL JACKSON EVAN WALKER ARCHITECTS PTY. LTD 1976 FOR HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRESERVATION COUNCIL; MELBOURNE: THE AREA BOUNDED BY VICTORIA, SPRING, LONSDALE AND SWANSTON STS (source 77)Building Name Queen Victoria HospitalAddress Lonsdale StreetDate Built 1911/12Architect J. J. and E. J. ClarkBuilder J. Duncan, Peters and HetheringtonOriginal UseMelbourne HospitalPresent Use Queen' Victoria Hospital...Other ReferencesStreetscape No. 2HistoricalThe Queen Victoria Hospital was established in 1896, to provide a service for women by female doctors. Their first outpatient clinic was held at St. David’s Church Hall, Latrobe Street (1). Later, the hospital moved to the old Governess Institute in Mint Place off Little Lonsdale Street (2).The Queen Victoria took over the present-building in 1946 when the Melbourne Hospital moved to Parkville. It had been built in 1911 to replace an earlier (1848) structure (.3).ArchitecturalCompleted in 1912 to the design of J. J. and E. J. Clark it was built in stages so that existing wards could be used until new ones were ready.. J. Duncan’s tender of ₤28,889 was accepted for Block A, the outpatients department and nurses home. Peters and Hetherington won the tender for Block D, front surgical wards, at a cost of ₤19,319 and Block F, front medical ward, at a cost of ₤19,439 (4). ,Tenders for the remaining central block (Block E') were let two months later (5). . In 1910 it was noted that "there is plenty of money available for this job, and that veteran designer of many hospitals Mr. J. T. Clarke (sic) has been given the advantage of a special world tour to still more completely equip him for what will probably be the crowning task of a long and busy lifetime spent in the erection of hospitals, halls and other public buildings” (6)`.... the new hospital will be remarkable as the first one in the world built five and six storeys high on the pavilion principle. Besides the comparative safety from fire ensured by detached staircases and lifts, the several buildings forming the whole will be so wide apart that a conflagration in one could scarcely reach another' (7)“Architecturally the place will be massive rather than ornamental (8).…A group of nine blocks `or pavilions’ of five and six storeys grouped on either side of a covered way, (originally of two storeys and now the full height of the ward blocks) and separated from each other by 200' wide courtyards.Footnotes (1) G. H. Swinburne The First Fifty Years, 1951 Pp 9, 10(2) Ibid Pp 19(3) Cyclopaedia of Victoria-' Vol. 1, Pp 418, 419(4) Building,. 12.11, 1910, P37(5) Journal of ,the Institute of Architects of NSW, Vol. 8, No. 1, Jan/Feb. 1911, P216(6) Building, op cit,.P37(7) Journal of the Institute of Architects of NSW .op cit,p216(8) Ibid..Streetscape No. 2Queen Victoria Hospital, Lonsdale and Swanston StreetsReference Block EEvaluationThe Queen Victoria Hospital, like the City Baths structure by the same architect, is a highly accomplished exercise in early "functional" architecture. However, because of its size, covering 1.1/2 blocks of street frontage, it is seen as a major and highly desirable component of the Lonsdale Street, and to a lesser extent, the Swanston Street, streetscape. Long views of the site along its main frontage to Lonsdale Street reveals the highly articulated `pavilion’ and tower forms expressed in walls and roof profiles, and well established planting. These forms return around into Swanston Street for a part of that frontage.At street level the wrought iron fence and the intensive planting behind it provide a pleasantly scaled pedestrian promenade. The opportunity to preserve a delightful view from Little Lonsdale Street through the site to Lonsdale Street should be considered as part of any plan for the precinct.Other ReferencesBuilding E1RecommendationThat the Lonsdale and Swanston Street frontages of the Queen Victoria Hospital be declared significant streetscapes in terms of the Third Schedule of the Town and Country Planning Act, and that the ordinance make specific reference to the wrought iron boundary fence, shrubs and trees..NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1915https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1542148MELBOURNE HOSPITAL. FINANCES DEPLORABLE. REVIEW BY THE PRESIDENT.….also discusses new name
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Research and reports
Record number:
1251726
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 105750 | 1 PDF : 2,018 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |