Early history of the site Green Lane Hospital lies at the foot of Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), the site of a large pa occupied for several centuries prior to colonial arrival. According to one perspective, a community was established on the hill at some time between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries by Ngati Awa chief Titahi and his people, who had migrated to the area from Northland. By the early eighteenth century Maungakiekie was the domain of Te Waiohua, whose leader Kiwi Tamaki increased its defensive capabilities. The Auckland isthmus was subsequently conquered by Ngati Whatua, after which Te Taou chief Tuperiri is said to have built a new pa on the site which he renamed Hikurangi. Tuperiri is stated to have still been in residence in the 1790s. Following the founding of Auckland as colonial capital in 1840, the British Crown obtained land around Maungakiekie in 1841. Although much of the surrounding area was subdivided and sold for private farms, approximately three hectares (seven and a quarter acres) at Green Lane was set aside by the Crown in 1850-1 for hospital purposes. Auckland's first public hospital had been founded a few years previously in the Auckland Domain as part of the earliest wave of state-financed institutions of this type. In the absence of other facilities, such hospitals cared for the elderly poor and others in need of assistance, as well as strictly medical cases. In 1885, pressure on these institutions provided impetus to the passing of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act, which established a colonial version of the British Poor Law administered by a network of local Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards. This consolidated patchy arrangements for poor relief into a national system. In 1886, the land at Green Lane was transferred to the new Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, and subsequently used for the construction of a Home for the Aged Poor. The number of destitute elderly had grown significantly as a result of the generational ageing of early Pakeha pioneers without family to support them, and was exacerbated by the onset of a national economic depression that affected Auckland from the mid 1880s. Until the end of the century Auckland Province had the largest number of over 65s in the country, and was obliged to make provisions at an early stage. Construction of the Costley Home for the Aged Poor (1889-90) Prior to the construction of the new Home in 1889-90, few refuges for the elderly existed in New Zealand, and most of those that did were adapted from earlier structures or housed a variety of destitute or homeless inmates. Statistics in 1885 record refuges in only five settlements in the colony, although the list excludes at least one casual shelter. In Auckland, elderly individuals had continued to be accommodated in rundown buildings in the Auckland Hospital grounds. Created at an early stage in the expansion of an institutional approach to welfare during the 1890s and 1900s, the Board's new Home can be seen to represent a major development in the growth of care for the elderly in Auckland and beyond. Occupying land next to John Logan Campbell's farm at Epsom, the site had previously been used as a market garden and lay close to the main road between Auckland and Onehunga, the two main settlements in the Auckland Isthmus. The use of rural or semi-rural locations for institutions for the elderly was encouraged by government officials, who believed that inmates should be away from the 'corrupting' influences of town and in a place where moral character could be built through physical work such as cultivation. In this respect, approaches to caring for the elderly poor were similar to those for other groups perceived as problematic, with reformatories, industrial schools and psychiatric institutions often being erected on comparable sites. When the Board announced the winner of a design competition for a new Home in 1886, its choice was criticised by some for looking too much like a prison. The Board subsequently requested Edward Bartley, a notable Auckland architect, to undertake a new design. Bartley had previously worked on a variety of commissions, including ecclesiastical buildings, factories and residences. In 1886-7 he was responsible for the construction of a new charitable structure in central Auckland, the Sailors' Home. In early 1889, he produced a design for the Home at Green Lane which contributed to his appointment as architect to the Board, a position he retained until 1906. Along with his work on the Sailors' Home, the Green Lane project was the first of many hospital- and welfare-related commissions that he undertook in the region. These included the Costley Children's Hospital (1898), hospitals at Whangarei and Waihi (1900 and 1902), the Infectious Diseases Hospital (1906) and the Jubilee Home for the Blind (1906). Bartley's design was for an imposing two-storey polychrome brick building with a central projection, flanking wings and double-height verandahs. Its main entrance incorporated a portico with Corinthian columns surmounted by ornamental balustrading. The design combined eighteenth-century institutional architecture with more recent hospital forms. Like early institutional approaches, its main structure incorporated a central lobby and large flanking rooms. At the rear, however, it contained several double-ward pavilions of single-storey height, connected to the main building by a covered passageway. Developed to improve ventilation or to alleviate the pressure of patient numbers, double-wards had become popular in British hospitals by the 1850s and have been seen as a transitional form between corridor and full pavilion plans. In April 1889, a foundation stone for the new structure was laid by the incoming colonial governor, Lord Onslow (1853-1911), in what was claimed to be his maiden speech in the colony. A year later, he formally opened the building. Construction was funded from a large bequest by an early Auckland resident and businessman, Edward Costley (c.1796-1883), who had specified that his fortune should also be used to benefit other charitable institutions in Auckland, including the Auckland Hospital, the Parnell Orphan Home, the Auckland Free Public Library and the Sailors' Home. Costley's actions were extensively praised by Lord Onslow and others at the opening, reflecting the prevailing view in governing circles that individual charity should supplement state assistance. His benevolence was also physically enshrined in the institution, with the words 'Costley Home for the Aged Poor' being carved above its main door. The builders included E.A. Matthews, who had submitted a tender of £7,297 for its construction, and J.J. (James) Holland, a future mayor of Auckland, who was subsequently credited as its contractor. The Home was evidently intended to house up to 142 men and 100 women, greater than the largest previous charitable institution in New Zealand - the Otago Benevolent Institution. The ratio of male and female beds reflected the composition of the elderly population, which was approximately 60 percent male. In the main building the sexes were segregated, with a central vestibule in the downstairs area separating a men's dining room and office to the east from a women's dining room, female dormitory and reception room to the west. Both dining areas were serviced by a kitchen, store room and fenced yard at the rear. Upstairs, there were three more female dormitories, several bathrooms, and rooms for the manager and matron. The male dormitories and facilities were in three sets of double-wards at the rear. The main structure formed part of a larger complex, which incorporated a washhouse and laundry, morgue, straw room, small cancer ward and refractory ‘for the accommodation of inmates who are insubordinate, as well as those who are accustomed to ramble out in the highways in quest of treble XXX'. An open courtyard to the north of the main building contained a circular carriageway, a stone boundary wall and timber gates, presenting a formal entrance from Green Lane. Other features included a carriageway to the rear and a large vegetable garden. Extensive grounds were planted with grass and ornamental trees. Although the institution was primarily for elderly residents, at least one young patient with brain disease was accepted. Lying-in rooms were also soon added in the main structure for single or poor married women, who were occasionally admitted for childbirth. Inmates were expected to work, with men growing produce for the home and women carrying out sewing and other duties. Washing for the home and other institutions was also carried out in the laundry. A piggery close to the main building raised proceeds to subsidise the Home. Residents appear to have come from a variety of backgrounds. One early inmate, Sir Charles Burdett (1835-1892), is said to have been a member of the British aristocracy who had served as a captain in the third New Zealand - or Waikato - War (1863-4). In 1888, Burdett had become a cause celebre in the national and international press after being sentenced to fourteen days hard labour for taking two roses from Albert Park. Later residents are reported to have included several members of the 65th Regiment or ‘Royal Bengal Tigers', which operated in New Zealand between 1846 and 1865. At least two individuals held campaign medals for service during the New Zealand Wars. Women whose stories were highlighted in local newspapers included Alice Kay, believed to have been about 100 years old. During the 1890s the site was enlarged through land acquisition, and further structures were erected including a brick church in 1898 (later demolished). An average number of 190 residents were cared for by just five staff, which included the manager and matron. Although the famous English contralto Madame Patey (1842-1894) sang for inmates in 1891, accusations of ill-treatment began in the same year. By 1902, conditions were sufficiently bad to draw criticism from one of Onslow's successors, colonial governor Lord Ranfurly (1856-1933), who stated that workhouses in Britain were better in many respects. In 1903, a Royal Commission into the Home's affairs blamed the Board for unhygienic conditions, the presence of mentally deranged inmates and drunkenness among staff, and recommended a complete reorganisation of the institution's system of control and management. Further criticism came from the Premier, Richard Seddon (1845-1906), who subsequently visited the home in December 1905. As leader of the ruling Liberal Government, Seddon had introduced the first non-contributory state pension for civilians in 1898, reflecting a mood for greater social justice for the elderly and other disadvantaged groups during the 1890s and early 1900s. Construction of the Infirmary Ward for Incurables (1906-7) The Board responded to this criticism, and to more extensive concern expressed by a Royal Commission into its running of the Auckland Hospital, by improving facilities at the Home. In 1904, a new kitchen block designed by Bartley was erected. More significantly, the Board also commissioned designs for an Infirmary Ward for Incurables at the site. Such a structure was apparently intended to improve conditions at both the Costley Home and the hospital by facilitating access to medical attention for the aged infirm at the former and separating terminally ill patients from acute cases at the latter. It would also relieve overcrowding at both institutions. Plans were initially produced by Edward Bartley although the final design was by G.W. Allsop, who had replaced Bartley as the Board's architect as part of a fresh approach. The building was to be a single-storey brick structure of detached pavilion type, with a central entrance, cupola and short towers at each corner. Separate pavilion wards had become standard in British hospitals from the 1860s after observations during the Crimean War (1854-6) by Florence Nightingale and others emphasised the importance of ventilation in the treatment of the infirm. Separate pavilion or ‘Nightingale' wards consisted of long, narrow structures with rows of beds and windows along each extended wall to capitalise on the perceived benefits of cross-ventilation. Initially promoted as more medically effective, pavilions are considered to have remained a dominant architectural form for hospitals and related structures until the early twentieth century partly because they reinforced the emerging professionalisation of both medical employees and architects. Shortly after construction work had started, Allsop embarked on a tour to study the construction and equipment of hospitals in Australia and New Zealand, and was to specialise in the design of such structures during his subsequent career. His design for the Infirmary Ward employed a Queen Anne Revival style, which fused the building's institutional form with visual features used more commonly in contemporary domestic architecture, such as ‘half-timbering'. In Britain, Queen Anne Revival had been used for at least one Home for Incurables (Jaffray Suburban Hospital, Birmingham, 1885) and was sometimes employed to produce hospitals with a less institutional appearance. The building's foundation stone was laid by the Minister for Education and Public Health, George Fowlds (1860-1934), in November 1906. The recently appointed Fowlds was a noted overseer of health and other social reforms. Funds came both from the Board and a £500 bequest by Captain David Rough (d.1899), an important early colonial official who had been Auckland's first harbourmaster, had raised the British flag at the foundation of Auckland, and had also been a witness to a signing of the Treaty of Waitangi at Tamaki in July 1840. At an eventual cost of £5,000, the building was a substantial financial outlay, being at least twice that of contemporary cottage hospitals. The Board may have raised money by selling land elsewhere in Epsom for subdivision, contributing to the area's increasing suburbanisation. The building was one of the earliest purpose-built institutions for incurables erected in New Zealand, and probably the first to have been erected as part of an old people's home. The only previous purpose-built Home for Incurables, the Victoria Hospital for Chronic Invalids in Wellington, was opened in April 1905 but formed part of Wellington Hospital rather than the adjacent Home for the Aged Poor. By December 1906, a small annexe for incurable cases was also operating in Invercargill. Both Fowlds and senior health officials considered the creation of such facilities in each hospital district to be essential, and preferably as part of old people's homes. Their establishment in these locations has since been seen as doing much to positively alter the nature of benevolent institutions, as well as advancing the links between illness and old age. Fowlds opened the new building in December 1907, at a large ceremony attended by numerous dignitaries. Members of the Board were proud of the structure, emphasising its pioneering nature and declaring it to be the finest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Said to have been designed and built on the most up-to-date principles, the building contained beds for 30 patients in a large open ward with two single-bed rooms and a sunroom at one end of the structure, and a two-bed room, dispensary and scullery at the other. The sunroom was reported to be ‘where the old men may sit and smoke or read in winter time,' and the single-bed rooms were for cases requiring quietness or for patients who were dying. A newspaper report of the opening stated that ‘it has been a great fault in the hospital up to the present that there was no provision for dying cases, these patients simply being placed in a corner of the ward and screened off.' The building's north-south orientation corresponded with that encouraged for pavilion plans in Britain, and its north-facing sunroom indicates an adaption to Southern Hemisphere conditions. The number of patients accommodated also coincided with the ideal, which was generally between 28 and 32 for a main ward. Contemporary changes to the broader complex included altering the drive in the open courtyard to accommodate the new building, which now framed its eastern side. Greater medicalisation of care was soon underlined by the recommendation that the manager and visiting medical officer of the Home be replaced with a medical superintendent and matron. Enhanced concern about hygiene led to the earlier piggeries being removed. Separate accommodation for staff was added in the grounds, including a Nurses' Home (later demolished) to the west of the main Costley Home building in circa 1912. The Infirmary was also soon enlarged to accommodate separate wards for men and women. This involved raising the building's roof and adding an extra storey, two flights of steps and a lift-well, as well as a two-storey verandah. The new upper floor (for men) duplicated the plan of the lower level (subsequently allocated for women). Designed by Allsop, the additions followed the Queen Anne Revival style of the original structure and were erected by Facer and Co. They were opened in November 1917 by the then chairman of the Board, M.J. Coyle, with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr C.E. Maguire, and other dignitaries attending. By 1919, the enlarged infirmary held space for 70 inmates. Inmates during this period included the notable artist and engraver Louis Steele (1842-1918), who had painted portraits of many famous New Zealanders. Steele had also collaborated with C.F. Goldie and Kennett Watkins respectively in the well-known works, ‘The Arrival of the Maori in New Zealand' (1898) and ‘The Burning of the Boyd' (1889). Further alterations to the complex included the construction of a separate Female Infirmary on the western side of an extended quadrangle in 1923-4 (since demolished), which mirrored the size and orientation of the earlier Infirmary Ward (subsequently known as the Male Infirmary). Larger nursing facilities (still surviving) were also erected at the rear of the complex in 1925. These changes accompanied a renaming of the institution as the Auckland Infirmary in 1924, reducing the stigma of its associations with colonial charity. The incised name ‘Costley Home for the Aged Poor' was symbolically removed from the main building and replaced with ‘Costley Wards', possibly at the same time that some alterations were made to the interior. Containing an increasing proportion of chronically ill patients, the complex is said to have subsequently functioned more like a geriatric hospital. Construction of the Main Building (1941-3) More substantial changes occurred following the privations of the Great Depression and the election of the first Labour Government under Michael Joseph Savage (1872-1940). Savage had been a member of the Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board for much of the period from 1919 to 1935, maintaining an active role in its work until just before being elected to power. In 1938 he oversaw the Social Security Act, which introduced the concept of free and universal health care covering general practitioners, hospitals, and pharmaceutical and maternity services, pre-dating British moves for a National Health Service by a decade. Access to hospital care was vastly expanded with the number of hospital beds increasing nationally from 9,234 in 1938-9 to 13,780 in 1946. By the end of the Second World War (1939-45) it was claimed that New Zealand had more hospital beds per 1,000 head of population than any other country. Although expansion had been contemplated at Auckland Hospital since at least 1930, Green Lane was preferred for growth immediately after the reforms. The foundation stone of a large new structure, the Main Building, was laid by the Governor-General Sir Cyril Newall (1886-1963) in May 1941, at which time the Board's desire to expand facilities into suburban communities was highlighted. While construction was underway, the broader complex was converted to a general hospital, renamed Green Lane Hospital in 1942. Geriatric services were eventually transferred to Cornwall Hospital in nearby Cornwall Park. The new work was intended to be part of a long-term improvement of services on the site and elsewhere in the region. The Main Building was erected between the main Costley Home structure and the Female Infirmary, reinforcing the quadrangular arrangement of the earlier wards. The project involved the demolition of the 1898 brick chapel. Costing £175,000, the new structure was opened in February 1943 by the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser (1884-1950), who succeeded Savage. Fraser had been Minister of Health during the 1938 reforms, playing an important role in encouraging doctors to form part of the scheme. At the time of its opening, the structure was described as the finest in New Zealand and a handsome building of imposing design. Fraser called it ‘a beautiful building' and is said to have referred to ‘the promise of the beauty of its exterior being fulfilled by the interior.' Of elongated high-rise design, the building adopted a Modern or Functionalist appearance that reflected the progressiveness of the social reforms that underpinned its existence. Six storeys high and of reinforced concrete construction, its main facades incorporated sweeping and elegant cantilevered balconies designed to allow maximum air and sunshine into the wards. The form of the new facility reflected moves away from pavilion buildings towards more cost-effective structures incorporating numerous wards. This was due in part to a shift from theories about the importance of ventilation to those that stressed hygiene. In Australia, Inter-War Functionalism was seen as ideal for hospitals due to its emphasis on cleanness and efficiency. The building's up-to-date appearance can also be seen to have reflected an increasing emphasis on new technology in health care. Responsibility for the building's design lay with Raymond Farrell, who had been appointed architect to the Hospital Board in 1938. It may also reflect the input or influence of the Australian firm of Stephenson and Turner, which had been taken on with Farrell to provide specialist advice on plans for the Auckland Hospital in early 1939. Stephenson and Turner had pioneered the use of functionalist modernism in Australia, particularly for hospital construction, and are considered to have revolutionised Australian hospital design. The building was erected by Fletcher Construction Company Ltd which, along with other contractors, offered its services on a non-profit basis due to the war effort. Shortages evidently caused plans to extend the balconies around the western side of the building and finish corridors in tile and net plaster to be dropped. In 1950, the international Everyman's Encyclopaedia is reported to have described the structure as ‘a fine specimen of a modern architectural conception of a hospital'. The building made provision for 264 beds, which were divided among rooms containing no more than six beds each. Individual floors were treated as separate units, containing not only accommodation but also auxiliary rooms for staff work and patient activities. Auxiliary rooms on each floor included a sister's room and nurses' changing room, a kitchen, patients' day room, sink and steriliser rooms, bathroom and lavatory accommodation and a recess for patients' chairs, as well as rooms for linen, flowers and patients' clothes. According to one account, Ward 1 on the ground floor was for children, Ward 2 accommodated thoracic surgery, Ward 3 housed medicine (including cardiology), Wards 4 and 5 were for general surgery, and the top floor held quarters for resident medical officers. The rest of the complex was reorganised, and by October 1943 the hospital held surgical patients, those with tuberculosis, and individuals with chronic disorders. The Costley Wards contained the Casualty Department and the earliest operating theatres, with the first cardiac surgery being performed there in 1944. Its upper floor still catered for female geriatrics, the only part of the complex devoted to this activity. The former Infirmary Ward was also converted to male and female wards for acute cases, a purpose it retained for thirty years. Subsequent use and modifications Notable medical practitioners in the general hospital included James Lister Newman (1903-1983), regarded as the father of geriatric medicine in New Zealand, who became medical superintendent at Green Lane in 1959. Under the surgeon Sir Douglas Robb (1899-1974), the cardiothoracic surgical centre gained an international reputation, subsequently advanced by Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes (1924-2006). Barratt-Boyes performed the first open heart surgery in New Zealand at Green Lane in 1958, and four years later became only the second heart surgeon in the world to replace a heart valve. Trees were planted in the quadrangle to mark the first open heart surgery and other events. In 1950, operating facilities moved from the Costley Wards to the ground floor of the Main Building. Further expansion and reorganisation in the 1960s and 1970s involved the demolition of the early twentieth-century Nurses Home in 1964 to make way for a new Administration Block within the previous quadrangle. As well as containing the offices of the medical superintendent and matron, the purpose-built block also housed a library and the Accident and Emergency Department. Extensive redevelopment, including the creation of the National Women's Hospital, took up much of the earlier grounds to the south. In 1970, the pavilions at the rear of the Costley Wards were removed. The remainder of the Costley Wards contained cafeterias, and banking and postal services. With the demise of Cornwall Hospital, geriatric wards were created in the former Infirmary once again, incorporating an added ablution and toilet block in 1972. In 1989, the hospital became a specialist facility. Services in the Costley Wards (now known as Building 6) and former Infirmary Ward (Building 5) have since closed, and the 1923-4 Women's Infirmary has been demolished. In 2009, a public campaign against demolition of the former Infirmary Ward resulted in it being retained. The Main Building (Building 7) remains in use as part of the Greenlane Clinical Centre and is supplemented by other multi-storey structures to the south.

Context Green Lane Hospital is located in the suburb of Epsom, to the south of Auckland city centre. It lies immediately to the northwest of Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), and the major recreational spaces formed by Cornwall Park and One Tree Hill Domain. The latter contain extensive grassland and trees, and provide the hospital with elements of a rural or semi-rural setting. The hospital also adjoins Green Lane West, a main arterial route connecting inner suburbs to the south of Auckland with the Southern Motorway. On the opposite side of the road are the Alexandra Park racecourse and Auckland Showgrounds - a large sporting and entertainment venue respectively. The area around the complex contains notable remnants of past activity, including the extensive remains of Maori occupation at Maungakiekie, considered to be one of the largest pa sites in the country. Cornwall Park and One Tree Hill Domain also retain elements of the early colonial landscape, including drystone walls linked with farming (such as possibly Record no. 526, Cornwall Park Stone Wall, Category II historic place) and an olive grove planted by John Logan Campbell (1817-1912). Sometimes known as the 'Father of Auckland', Campbell's early residence - and Auckland's oldest surviving building - Acacia Cottage (Record no. 525, Category I historic place), has sat in the park since the 1920s. The parkland contains several other notable historic places including the One Tree Hill Obelisk (Record no. 4601, Category I historic place), and is itself an important late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century recreational landscape. It also contains the site of Cornwall Hospital (1942-75), initially used as the US Army 39th Hospital before conversion for geriatric and other care. Alexandra Park was the home of Auckland rugby by 1900, and since then has been the base for the Auckland Trotting Club, retaining historic structures linked with this activity. Notable houses connected with the development of Epsom as a wealthy residential suburb lie to the south of the complex. These include Marire in Claude Road, the Ker House (Former) in Emerald Street (Record no. 4534, Category II historic place) and the former Whittome House in Gardner Road. General description and layout Green Lane Hospital is part of a wider hospital complex lying immediately to the south of Green Lane West and a short distance to the east of Manukau Road. The broader complex encompasses the National Women's Hospital and an extensive range of other buildings. Most of the latter appear to be of comparatively recent date, although they include nursing facilities erected of brick in 1925, which were considerably expanded in the 1940s. There are several high-rise structures, including the main Greenlane Clinical Centre Building (Building 4), erected immediately to the south of the Main Building in 2003. The site assessed for registration lies in the northeast part of the complex and occupies an approximately rectangular area. It is bounded by Green Lane West to the north, Cornwall Park to the east, the Greenlane Clinical Centre Building (Building 4) to the south, and an access road into the complex to the west. It encompasses the quadrangular area fronting Green Lane West that constituted the formal public focus of the hospital until the later part of the twentieth century. The main structures within this area are the former Costley Home for the Aged Poor building (Building 6); the former Infirmary Ward for Incurables (Building 5); the Main Building (Building 7); and the Administration Building (Building 8). The latter reflects the ongoing development of facilities for the complex as a general hospital during the 1960s, but is excluded from the registration because insufficient information was accessed during the assessment process to recommend its inclusion at this stage. The land beneath it, however, which formed part of the earlier quadrangle, is encompassed. Lying next to Green Lane West, the buildings are visible from the road and can be considered to constitute a landmark in Auckland's modern suburban landscape. The former Infirmary Ward is situated in the eastern part of the site with its main axis running north-south, the Costley Home structure has an east-west axis and occupies the southeast part of the area, and the Main Building is situated immediately to its west with the same axis. The area also contains the site of a former Nurses Home (circa 1912) and the demolished Female Infirmary (1922-23) in its western half, archaeological remnants of which may remain. Deposits relating to other nineteenth- and earlier twentieth-century activity may also survive, such as that linked with formal courtyard arrangements and a former water tank to the south of the Costley Home building. It is currently unclear from archaeological knowledge whether remains linked with Maori occupation of Maungakiekie extend this far northwest. The area contains commemorative trees in its northwest corner, including a kauri planted to commemorate the first open heart surgery conducted on the site (1958). A row of pohutukawa trees line the road forming the western boundary. The eastern boundary encompasses a stone wall adjoining Cornwall Park, which appears to be of some antiquity. Much of the remainder of the land within the registration (other than that covered by the Administration Building) is under asphalt and used for car parking. Costley Home for the Aged Poor (Building 6) The Costley Home building consists of a main two-storey brick structure with an attached single-storey brick element to its east. The two-storey element is broadly rectangular in plan, with a central projection on its northern side. The smaller element is also rectangular in outline, although its main axis runs north-south rather than east-west. It has a short connecting section to the western wall of the main block. Both the two- and one-storey elements employ similar stylistic approaches, having gabled slate roofs, polychromatic brickwork and bands of skewed bricks at eaves level. Early external arrangements are generally well-preserved, although some changes have occurred to the main building at its east and west ends at ground floor level. A short, two-storey service extension has also been removed at the rear. Exterior The main building draws on eighteenth-century Georgian architecture, combining this with Italianate elements popular in the late nineteenth century. The two-storey element has a strongly symmetrical main (north) facade, incorporating a projecting central bay and flanking wings with double-height return verandahs. The brickwork is predominantly yellow in colour, with bands of red brick extending horizontally across the elevation and over window openings. The windows themselves are of large double hung sash type. The central bay is gabled and contains the main entrance to the building. The entrance shelters beneath an open portico incorporating Corinthian columns, a heavy cornice and ornamental balustrading. A band of Oamaru stone above the windows at first floor level bears the words 'Costley Wards'. The upper part of the gable incorporates an oculus, which ventilates the roof space. The flanking verandahs are broad and are supported by simple diagonal-braced posts with - possibly secondary - cast iron balustrades at first floor level. For the most part, the verandahs sheltered dining rooms and the manager and matron's night quarters rather than the inmates' dormitories in the original, late nineteenth-century arrangement. Both the east and west facades are double-gabled at first floor level, reflecting internal divisions into front and back rooms. The rear elevation is plainer than the front, and encompasses a small projecting service block in its eastern part. A small service block to the west has been removed. The single-storey element to the east of the main building is gabled to the north and south. Each gable has an oculus. A small, brick lean-to is attached to the south wall of the structure. The connecting element between the structure and the main building is also of brick. Interior Information from heritage assessments undertaken in 1999 and 2000 suggests that the early internal layout is comparatively well-preserved. The 1999 assessment states that ‘the primary composition of spaces remains generally legible and core elements such as the main entry and staircase have survived with relatively little significant loss to historic heritage fabric or meaning.' The conversion of the ground floor of the eastern wing into a large room for a men's dining area probably dates to the 1920s. Most other divisions, with the exception of the nineteenth-century kitchen area and manager and matron's day quarters, appear to survive. It has been noted that ‘the building retains much of the character of a Victorian institutional building in its simplicity and robustness of design...' Features pictured in the assessments include a large central staircase, and light fittings and radiators (some marked ‘The Hospital', as also noted in the 1926 Wallace Block at Auckland Hospital). The latter mark the layout of beds in earlier phases of the building's use. Infirmary Ward for Incurables (Building 5) The Infirmary Ward for Incurables is a two-storey brick structure with a slate roof. It is long and narrow in plan, with square towers at each corner. It incorporates a central projection with a main entrance and porch midway along its long western side, and a recent two-storey addition extending eastwards midway along its corresponding east elevation. Much of the building's 1917 appearance is retained. Apart from recent additions, the building is of Queen Anne Revival style with exposed timber framing or ‘half-timbering' in the upper parts of its porch, central projection and each tower. The slate roof incorporates other ornamental elements that are linked with Queen Anne style, including terracotta ridge tiles. Further embellishments include a central cupola, and belled hipped roofs to each tower. Some of the tower roofs retain cast iron cresting. Exterior The main (west) façade retains much of its 1917 appearance, with a gabled central projection incorporating an attached porch capped by ornamental terracotta cresting. Rows of tall, narrow windows pierce the main wall of the elevation at both levels, reflecting theories about the medical benefits of cross-ventilation. A double height verandah extends between the projection and the northwest tower, and has been partly enclosed. Other alterations include a narrow concrete lift tower against the south wall of the projection. The north elevation includes a shallow bay with large windows for sunrooms at both levels. The main roof at this end terminates in a gable above the bay. The east elevation is similar to the west elevation in its window and verandah details. Part of the verandah has been enclosed. A 1917 projecting element has been demolished and replaced by a recent addition of plain rectangular design. The south elevation incorporates a narrow projecting bay containing a stairwell. A small lean-to has been added in the angle between this bay and the southeast tower. Interior A report on the structure prepared in 2008 indicates that most of the basic layout elements created in 1907 and 1917 remain. At ground floor level, partitions have been added on either side of the central entrance and against the east wall of the southern part of the building to create small rooms. Other partitions have been added in rooms at the base of each tower at the south end. However, the general arrangement of a large main ward with small rooms at either end remains in the surviving fabric. The 1972, east wing is divided into small rooms accessed from a central corridor. The upper storey is reached from staircases in the central projection and a stairwell at the south end of the building. Like the ground floor, the first floor interior has been partly partitioned into smaller rooms but the fabric of an identical arrangement of that on the lower storey remains. Arrangements on the first floor of the 1972 addition are similar to those on the ground floor. Main Building (Building 7) The Main Building is a large six-storey structure of reinforced concrete construction with a sleek, smooth-rendered finish and a flat roof. It is of Modern or Functionalist design, incorporating strong horizontal lines reinforced by cantilevered balconies and rows of metal-framed windows. The building is broadly rectangular in plan, but asymmetrical massing is provided by a slight forward projection at the eastern end of its north facade. Comparisons with images taken at the time of construction suggest that the main facades are well-preserved. Connections to adjoining buildings have been added at ground floor level on some elevations. Exterior The main (north) façade incorporates visually distinctive cantilevered balconies at each level, which terminate in rounded corners at both ends of the elevation. Large windows pierce the facade, with differences in design providing variety to the composition. The forward projection at its east end incorporates the main entrance. The east and west elevations have moderately sized steel-framed windows, with those in the east wall giving way to smaller apertures towards the southern end. Interior No internal inspection has been carried out and no plans have been accessed other than a floor plan dating to the late 1940s or 1950s which shows part of the entrance lobby flanked by offices on its eastern side. Comparisons Homes for the Aged Poor Few public refuges for the elderly poor existed prior to the late 1880s. Of the examples that were associated with hospitals, one at New Plymouth survives (The Gables, Record no.29, Category I historic place). Erected in 1848, this building was converted for use as a home for old men in 1880. Shortly after this use ceased in 1903, it was relocated away from its original site. Pre-1885 refuges in Auckland were removed soon after the Costley Home was built. A greater number of homes were built after the introduction of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act in 1885, although totals were still not large: twenty were in existence in 1920. Part of an early example survives at Woolston in Christchurch (Jubilee Hospital Complex - formerly the Queen Victoria Jubilee Memorial Home - Record no.7337, Category I historic place). Erected just before the Costley Home in 1888, this was of Arts and Crafts design and contained an octagonal accommodation block. Most of the associated buildings, including the accommodation block, have been dismantled or demolished. The largest benevolent institution in New Zealand prior to the 1890s - the Otago Benevolent Institution - also no longer survives. Dating to 1900-1, a slightly later Home for the Aged remains in Carterton (Carter Home, Record no.7663, Category I historic place). This is a well-preserved example of a smaller home, catering for between seven and ten inmates during its early years. The Costley Home represents the centrepiece of the largest Home for the Aged Poor in nineteenth-century New Zealand, and is one of very few to survive more generally from this period. It is the only Home of this type in Auckland, and along with the Carrington Hospital (Record no.96, Category I historic place) and Mt Eden Prison (Record no.88, Category I historic place) forms one of an important trio of colonial institutions demonstrating attitudes to ‘the mad, the bad and the sad' in the most populous part of the North Island. Infirmary Wards for Incurables The only earlier Ward for Incurables in the North Island was located in Wellington, and has since been demolished. Only one other structure, an annexe in Invercargill (1906), is known to have been in use as a home for incurables before the ward at the Costley Home was completed. The example at Green Lane Hospital is the oldest surviving purpose-built Infirmary Ward for Incurables in the North Island and probably also in New Zealand. It is believed to have been the earliest such facility erected as part of an old people's institution, an arrangement promoted as the ideal situation by early twentieth-century Government health officials. Functionalism and high-rise hospital blocks Early or notable examples of large high-rise hospital blocks that emerged in Europe include the Beaujon Hospital at Clichy, France (1935) and Westminster Hospital in London (1939). Following the realisation that cross-ventilation would not kill germs, Modernism or Functionalism was seen as a vehicle for expressing the change from pavilion to multi-storey hospital architecture in Europe and elsewhere. In a British context, the Royal Masonic Hospital in London (1931) is said to have been pivotal in the adoption of Modernist design for hospitals in the Inter-War years, and was built with large windows, balconies and a streamlined style. In Finland, the innovative Paimio Sanatorium (1930-33), designed by Alvar Aalto, combined a striking Functionalist design incorporating prominent balconies with the concept of a high-rise medical building. In Australia, a strong association between Inter-war Functionalism or Modernism and hospital construction has been identified. Functionalist designs were adopted for such notable structures as the Mercy Hospital in East Melbourne (circa 1934), the General Hospital at Townsville, Queensland (circa 1935) and the King George V Hospital at Camperdown, NSW (1939-41). Like the Main Building at Green Lane these buildings were at least five or six storeys in height and incorporated long, horizontal and round-ended balconies. The link between Functionalism and hospitals was particularly close as a result of the activities of the Melbourne-based architectural firm of Stephenson and Meldrum, known as Stephenson and Turner from 1937. Strongly defined horizontal balconies with curves at particular points have been described as the defining element in Stephenson and Turner's shift to modernism during the 1930s. It has been stated that ‘characterised by long curved balconies ribboned across the facades, their hospital designs of the 1930s brought modernism and medicine to the people.' When the firm built the Royal Melbourne Hospital (1936-42), however, a more simple approach was taken with the trademark balconies only appearing on parts of the north façade. In the post-war period, a declining emphasis was placed on balcony construction as the medical community lost its faith in the healing abilities of fresh air and sunlight. In New Zealand, Georgian Revival rather than Functionalism was adopted for the 1930s hospital buildings at Southland Hospital in Invercargill (Record no. 7747, Category I historic place). Plans for structures of more modern design at Auckland and Wellington Hospitals in the 1930s, including some prepared by Stephenson and Turner, were never built. In 1952-9, a building designed in 1946 was erected at Princess Margaret Hospital, Christchurch. This incorporated short lengths of balcony within the main body of the structure, reflecting a more constrained use of such features. It seems likely that the Main Building at Green Lane Hospital can be considered a notable New Zealand example of an Inter-War Functionalist style that was popular in Australia and elsewhere for hospital construction.