Clinic for Woman also Women's Venereal Disease Clinic, 372-378 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Clinic for Woman also Women's Venereal Disease Clinic, 372-378 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
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BIF-CITY 106034
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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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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________Period: Inter-WarDATE: 1919-;ASSOCIATIONS: Health Department, Victorian Government;DESIGNER: E. Evan Smith, Public Works Chief Architect.;BUILDER: G. Philips & Sons, Pty. Ltd..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryVenereal disease (V.D.) was established internationally as the most deadly infectious diseases early this Century. In 1916, the United States lost 222 per 100,000 deaths to Syphilis, compared to the next most deadly disease, Tuberculosis, (141 deaths). Pneumonia, Cancer, Influenza and Diabetes all paled in significance, (88-14 deaths per 100,000). As a consequence, a pact was formed by the League of Nations which obliged the Commonwealth to provide treatment for sailors at every major port in the country, (not done in Melbourne or Hobart by 1927). Figures in Victoria showed a severe increase of V.D. at the end of World War One, presumably one of the doubtful legacies of wartime overseas travel. The yearly number of Melbourne's reported cases, in 1917, was 4252. Two years later it was 7560, coinciding with the erection of this building to supplement the men's V.D. Clinic at 440 Lonsdale Street, (now demolished). A `Clinic for Woman' became Contract 81, signed October, 1918, with builder, H. P. Brady and chief architect, E. Evan Smith. It was to cost 6,772 pounds and various minor additions (verandah and balcony at rear, 1924) and alterations (1929, 1930) followed.After 10 years of operation, it was thought that the alarming progress of the disease had been halted but, nevertheless, the Australian Association for Fighting Venereal Diseases called for implementation of the 1926 Royal Commission on Health recommendations, particularly to provide more clinics in the capital cities. Melbourne clinics also analysed Tasmanian specimens, placing a great stress on the resources given that the League of Nations' direction had not been acted upon in either of those States. In the six year period up until 1927, a yearly average 8,779 cases had been reported : the `black slum' area alone (including Little and greater Lonsdale and La Trobe Streets) had generated 237 cases in the last 10months (to December, 1927) and a recent new patient rate at the Men's Clinic was 60 per week. By comparison, death rates in 1971 recorded .01% dead from Syphilis (one death/million population), 2.38% Pneumonia, .09% Influenza, and T.B. .20%, showing the relative and absolute decline of V.D.; motor vehicle accidents claimed 3.66% of deaths.DescriptionAn early E. Evan Smith Georgian revival design, this building was aparapeted two-storey brick façade to Lt. Lonsdale Street and a long hippedroof elevation extending into the block. A single level porch, withbalcony over, communicates with a hall and a long passage to the rear ofthe building. Consulting, dressing and examination rooms, plus astaircase, opened off the hall, while a large waiting room, stafffacilities and the Superintendent's Office lay beyond, off the passage.Upstairs were four Wards, bathrooms and patients' and staff sitting roomsfronting the three tiny balconies provided, to face the street.A reinforced concrete basement under part of the building may have beenintended as an Air Raid Shelter.Ornament to the façade was restricted to the pronounced cornice andsaltire-cross wrought iron balcony panels. The fenestration wassymmetrical, but the exposed end-gable parapets were neither typical of thestyle nor in harmony with the exposed hip-roofs elsewhere.External IntegrityGenerally original, air units added.StreetscapeRelates closely to the adjoining T.B. Clinic, (q.v.)..SignificanceBuilt to serve an almost bygone infectious disease and located centrally inthe now dissipated `back slum' brothel district of Lt. Lonsdale, La Trobeand Lonsdale Streets, also an early, if not totally successful, Georgianrevival design by the eminent E. Evan Smith and part of a minor healthdepartment precinct, also to his design.GRAEME BUTLER & ASSOCIATES 2011, CENTRAL CITY (HODDLE GRID) HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?Venereal disease (V.D.) was one of the most deadly infectious diseases internationally early in the 20th Century. In 1916, the United States lost 222 per 100,000 deaths to syphilis, compared to the next most deadly disease, tuberculosis, (141 deaths). Pneumonia, cancer, influenza and diabetes all paled into insignificance (88 and 14 deaths per 100,000). As a consequence, a pact was formed by the League of Nations which obliged the Commonwealth to provide treatment for sailors at every major port in the country.At the same time there was public pressure locally to set up facilities at either an existing hospital or a new specialised facility, with fears of contamination and mass infection. Western Australia was the first State to enact laws requiring compulsory notification of the disease: other states were under pressure to follow, with groups such as the Commercial Travellers Association sending deputations to the Victorian Minister. In 1916 it was estimated that 10% of all Melbourne children were syphilised. New South Wales had started free clinics that dealt with 2,279 patients in 1915 alone.Figures in Victoria showed a severe increase of V.D. at the end of World War One, presumably one of the legacies of wartime overseas service. The yearly number of Melbourne's reported cases, in 1917, was 4252. Two years later it was 7560, coinciding with the erection of this building to supplement the men's V.D. Clinic at 440 Lonsdale Street, (now demolished). A `Clinic for Woman' was erected as Public Works Department contract 81, signed October, 1918, with builder, R. P. Brady and Public Works Chief Architect, S C Brittingham. It was to cost ₤6,772 and various minor additions (verandah and balcony at rear, 1924) and alterations (1929, 1930) followed. In the same era Brittingham was responsible for the Old Arts Building (Melbourne University) and the around the same time, the similarly brick Georgian, Melbourne University School of Agriculture.After Brittingham, the next Public Workds Chief Architect, E Evan Smith, was to promote a recognisable government style using Georgian as the basis for buildings such as University High School Parkville 1929 (Victorian Heritage Register) and the Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy, Melbourne (1926, Victorian Heritage Register) which won the RVIA Victorian Street Architecture Medal for 1930.After 10 years of operation, it was thought that the alarming progress of the disease had been halted but, nevertheless, the Australian Association for Fighting Venereal Diseases called for implementation of the 1926 Royal Commission on Health recommendations, particularly to provide more clinics in the capital cities. In the six year period up until 1927, a yearly average 8,779 cases had been reported: the `back slum' area alone (including Little and greater Lonsdale and La Trobe Streets) had generated 237 cases in the last 10 months (to December, 1927) and a recent new patient rate at the Men's Clinic was 60 per week.By comparison, death rates in 1971 recorded .01% dead from Syphilis (one death/million population), 2.38% Pneumonia, .09% Influenza, and T.B. .20%, showing the relative and absolute decline of V.D.; motor vehicle accidents claimed 3.66% of deaths.This is an early Georgian revival design prepared immediately after World War One after considerable public pressure to combat a major health threat. It has a parapeted two-storey red brick façade to Little Lonsdale Street, a parapeted gabled profile above the main cornice, and a long hipped roof elevation extending into the block. A single level entry porch, with balcony over, communicates with a hall and a long passage to the rear of the building. Consulting, dressing and examination rooms, plus a staircase, opened off the hall, while a large waiting room, staff facilities and the Superintendent's Office lay beyond, off the passage. Upstairs were four wards, bathrooms and patients' and staff sitting rooms fronting the three balconies provided, to face the street.Ornament to the façade was restricted to the pronounced cornice dentillation and saltire-cross wrought iron balcony panels. The fenestration was symmetrical, but the exposed end-gable parapets were neither typical of the style nor in harmony with the exposed hip-roofs elsewhere. A reinforced concrete basement under part of the building may have been intended as an Air Raid Shelter.The building is generally original externally but openings have been sheeted over for security as part of a `mothballing' program for Commonwealth owned buildings. The building is part of a government built streetscape, relating closely to the adjoining single storey brick T.B. Clinic (q.v.) and the more distant Telephone Exchange. The building is close to the former mint building and faces the large former government office group (later Victoria University).How is it significant?The Women's Venereal Disease clinic is significant historically and aesthetically to the Melbourne Capital City ZoneWhy is it significant?The Women's Venereal Disease clinic is significant historically for its construction to serve an almost bygone infectious disease and located centrally within the now dissipated `back slum' brothel district of Little Lonsdale, La Trobe and Lonsdale Streets, to best serve its purpose. The creation of this building was the result of sustained public pressure to grapple with the spread of the disease.Aesthetically this is an early if modest Georgian revival design under the Government Chief Architect SC Brittingham and a contributory part of a small Victorian Government-built health precinct (with the TB Bureau to E Evan Smith's design), other earlier government offices, and close to the significant Georgian Revival Commonwealth telephone exchange, providing for a government building enclave built within a confined period and to a recognisable government style..RAWORTH, B 2002. REVIEW OF HERITAGE OVERLAY LISTINGS IN THE CBDfor the City of MelbourneHistory and Description(TB Clinic adjoining )The virus responsible for tuberculosis, was isolated in 1882 providing the first signpost towards the prevention and cure of the disease [Butler]. The Austin Hospital at Heidelberg was established in response to a shortage of facilities to combat the ailment. In 1903 tuberculosis was declared a notifiable disease in Melbourne and from that time sanatoria, outpatient clinics and laboratories were established throughout the City.In 1927, a director of tuberculosis was appointed to coordinate and extend existing state facilities for the treatment of tuberculosis. The construction of the tuberculosis annex to the earlier health department building coincides with his appointment. The annex was constructed to designs by E Evan Smith, the Chief Architect of the Department of Public Works, and was built by G Philips & Sons. As constructed, the annex adopted an austere neo-Georgian mode favoured by Smith.Its symmetrical red brick facade relieved only by implied voussoirs, multi-paned windows and subtle modelling of the elevation to imply pavilions. The Georgian hipped roof was partially concealed behind short parapets at each end of the facade.The building is currently unoccupied, its windows are boarded and there is some evidence of vandalism. Nonetheless, the building appears to be generally intact and although presently in urgent need of maintenance, in a sound condition. The annex and the adjoining clinic form an important pair of streetscape elements. In comparison to grander Georgian Revival designs emanating from Smith's office such as the Victorian Police Depot (1926) this is a relatively utilitarian building. It compares more readily with designs for drill halls around Melbourne prepared by Smith's Federal counterpart, John Smith Murdoch.Statement of SignificanceThe former Tuberculosis Annex to the Health Department Building is of aesthetic and historical significance at a local level as a modest neo-Georgian design from the office of Chief Architect of the Department of Public Works, E Evan Smith. The building remains as a physical manifestation of the Government's fight against tuberculosis during the early part of the twentieth century.Footnotes:Butler, 1985, CAD Conservation Study, 372-378 Lt Lonsdale Street..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM__________________________________________________VICTORIAN HERITAGE INVENTORY H7822-10251880 Panorama - single storey building.1905 - 2 storey building: 'Septic Clinic for Women'__________________________________________________City of Melbourne i-Heritage:Central Activities District Conservation Study - Graeme Butler, 1984 Building Identification Form (BIF): : Notable features include unpainted decorative brickwork. Alterations / Recommendations: Air units added (inappropriate - remove or reinstate sympathetic alternative).__________________________________________________Public Works Department (PWD) Contract drawings (PROV):1918-1919, 81 ₤6772: `Proposed Clinic for Women..' signed 24/10/1918 RP Brady and ET Neal (?) stamped ... 7855 ( see also extracts PWD Drawings for 364-370 Little Lonsdale St 1918-1919)PWD Contract Summary (`VD'):VD Clinic Lonsdale St, urinal stalls 1917-18, 64VD Clinic Women Little Lonsdale 1918-19, 81…New verandah and balcony Lit Lonsdale St 19234-4, 533 (B= Richard Mettle, ₤207 )Alterations Men's and Women's VD Clinic 1928-9,62 ₤2220__________________________________________________`Victorian Year Book' (VYB)1974: 551-__________________________________________________CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONS1981 u/ground petrol tank for hospital1983 fire escape works__________________________________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1918see VENEREAL DISEASES...https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/171816521andhttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242519593REATING DISEASESTATE CLINIC TO BE BUILTDirections have been given by Mr J. Bowser, Minister for Health, to Dr. E. Robertson. Chairman of the Board of Public Health, to obtain possession from the Public Works Department of land 160 feet by 150 feet in Little Lonsdale street, adjoining the Health De.partment, as a site for a venereal dispenses clinic for women. Plans and specifications for the building which is estimated to cost £5000 are to be prepared..`The Argus': Wednesday 17 July 1918VENEREAL DISEASEWORK AT MELBOURNE HOSPITAL Medical Staff Make Suggestions.Three members of the honorary medical staff of the Melbourne Hospital waited as a deputation upon the committee of the institution yesterday afternoon to express their views regarding the steps which should be taken by the State Ministry to combat venereal disease. The deputation consisted of Dr Wilkinson (chairman of the honorary staff). Professor Sir Harry Allen and Dr. Conrad Hiller…The incidence of the disease was so widespread that nothing but the best treatment could satisfy the conscience of the community and of the medical profession. And in a great institution like the Melbourne Hospital the best means for dealing with both outdoor and indoor patients were at hand. No subterfuges such as small clinics established in various places could meet the situation. He suggested that the committee the honorary staff the Faculty of Medicine, and the British Medical Association should go as a strong united deputation to the Premier (Mr Lawson) to place the whole position before him pointing out that the satisfactory treatment of this disease would very soon repay the Government for any outlay. The British Medical Association would be willing to send its president if such a deputation were arranged and the Faculty of Medicine could also be expected to join…Alderman Sir David Hennessy a member of the committee said that he was amazed to learn that there were 900 cases of the disease being treated at the Melbourne Hospital. Rumours had been heard of infective persons being employed in certain restaurants and other places. As far as the Department of Public Health was concerned it had no check over them. The whole system wanted overhauling.The President (Sir John Grice) thanked the deputation for its action in approaching the committee. It seemed a sin to allow things to go on as present, and the question of spending £1000 £2000 or £5000 should not be considered. He would be very glad for arrangements to be made for a deputation consisting of members of the British Medical Association, the Faculty of Medicine and the committee of the Melbourne Hospital to wait upon the Premier (Mr Lawson) on behalf of these bodies.'Thursday 13 July 1916THE RED PLAGUE. COMPULSORY NOTIFICATION…__________________________________________________LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEX:E. Evan Smith Elected Fellow of RVIA.Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Journal, May 1923, p 44;E. Evan Smith, chief architect of Public Works Department when it designed the Emily Macpherson College of Domestic Economy. (in 1930 A.J. Wood was acting Chief Archt.) Architect, March 1976 p 18E. Evan Smith, Chief archt. Of Public Works Department of Victoria.The Emily McPherson College of Domestic Economy, Melbourne wins the RVIA Victorian Street Arch.Medal for 1930. Illus Photo of Russell st. elevation. Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Journal Sept. 1930, p 90E. Evan SMITH, Chief Arch. of Public Works Dept, Melbourne. Melbourne Boys High School, Prahran, Vic.Illus. Photo. Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Journal March 1929 p xxvi.DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1920-1925 Women's Venereal Diseases Clinic
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
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| Original | 106034 | 1 JPEG : 468 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |