Pelichet Bay Infectious Diseases Hospital (Former)

50 Butts Road, DUNEDIN

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Hidden from view behind large trees, a sloping drive leads from Butts Road to the secluded former Pelichet Bay Infectious Diseases Hospital, established in 1908 to accommodate Dunedin’s patients with serious communicable illnesses. In the nineteenth century epidemics were a serious issue. One of the early expressions of this was the establishment of quarantine stations to stop the spread of shipboard infection to the settled city population. In Dunedin such a facility was established at Quarantine Island, with passengers from forty three vessels quarantined there between 1860 and 1916. In the 1870s a short-lived fever hospital was established in the Town Belt in Dunedin, but was closed within a year as a result of public pressure. In a national context in 1903 the Government placed the legislative responsibility for infectious diseases cases with local hospital boards, leading to a rush to construct suitable facilities. District Health and Charitable Aid Boards throughout the country discussed their options, whether it be the building of a ward associated with an existing hospital, or a new, separate facility. Social, medical and governmental pressure came to bear on the Otago Health Board for a separate hospital in which to house those stricken with infectious maladies, particularly scarlet fever. Periodic epidemics, often affecting children, added intensity to the campaign. The campaign was lengthy but finally by September 1908 the Infectious Disease Hospital was accepting patients. The hospital was designed by noted Dunedin architect Patrick Young Wales. His drawings were based on the ‘pavilion plan’, an international trend in hospital design incorporating separate wards, proper ventilation, adequate drainage and water supply aimed at creating healthy conditions and preventing the spread of infection. A central block (with a second storey added shortly after construction) and two rectangular wings on either side were linked at the rear to small ‘pavilions’. A grassed recreation area rose up behind the hospital, merging into native bush, providing an appropriate setting for aiding recovery. An outbuilding was added a short distance to the north of the hospital, probably to house the morgue. The Hospital operated on this site for the next forty five years. Throughout this time there was controversy about the site and the facilities. In the 1920s the facility was closed briefly as the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition was located at the adjacent Logan Park, and the hospital was considered an inappropriate neighbour. The Hospital reopened following the exhibition, but there were fruitless discussions about relocating the facility to Wakari Hospital. Finally, in 1952 following the fall off in demand after World War Two, the Hospital was closed. In the 1950s the hospital was sold to the University of Otago and has since been used for student accommodation. Few modifications have occurred, other than the addition of modern kitchen and bathroom facilities. The hospital’s isolated natural setting and simple design, with wide verandas and angled pavilions, creates a pleasing aesthetic and evokes the feeling of separation from wider society which underpinned the choices for location and design. Architecturally the hospital is especially significant, not only for its architect Patrick Young Wales, but for its association with the internationally accepted pavilion plan. The new scientific principles of the plan, championed by such luminaries as Florence Nightingale, are well represented by the structure and design of the hospital. The building also stands as a symbol of the new standards in child care and the social evolution of child welfare causes. The hospital’s largely unmodified design represent late nineteenth and twentieth century society’s approaches to illness and represents a number of stories which add significantly to our understanding of New Zealand history.

Pelichet Bay Infectious Disease Hospital (Former), Dunedin. Central block and north wing | Jonathan Howard | 21/04/2010 | Heritage New Zealand
Pelichet Bay Infectious Disease Hospital (Former), Dunedin. Central block, west elevation | Jonathan Howard | 21/04/2010 | Heritage New Zealand

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 1

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

9575

Date Entered

4th April 2011

Date of Effect

4th April 2011

City/District Council

Dunedin City

Region

Otago Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes the land described as Lot 4 DP 516572 (RT 805569) and Lot 4 DP 488156 (RT 699582), Otago Land District, and part of the land described as Lot 3 DP 516572 (RT 805570), Otago Land District, and the buildings known as Pelichet Bay Infectious Diseases Hospital (Former) thereon, and its fittings and fixtures. The extent excludes the Logan Park High School building and the small quarry hut which encroach onto Lot 4 DP 488156. Refer to the extent map tabled at the Rārangi Kōrero Committee meeting on 10 October 2019.

Legal description

Lot 3 DP 516572 (RT 805570), Lot 4 DP 516572 (RT 805569), and Lot 4 DP 488156 (RT 699582), Otago Land District

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