St Mary's Hospital

Detached multiple-bay single-storey hospital ward, built c.1950, with projecting block to north and verandas to south. Flat lead-covered roof with projecting eaves and cast-iron downpipes. Red brick walls laid in Flemish bond. Square-headed window openings with concrete lintels and sills and uPVC windows. Concrete canopy projecting over square-headed door opening set in splayed recess with replacement uPVC double-leaf doors having overlights. Verandas to south with metal railings on brick plinth walls, accessed from wards via square-headed openings with concrete lintels and uPVC double-leaf door having overlights and window to one side. Verandas overlook sloping grounds to south.

St Mary’s Hospital was originally conceived as a fever hospital and though designs were drawn up in 1938 by TJ Cullen, with assistance from JF McMullen Jr., the complex was not completed until 1952. Occupying an elevated site on what was then the edge of the city, the complex is indicative of contemporary hospital architecture, taking the form of a group of low-level buildings in a large open space. The use of recessed and projecting elements to the facades serves to enliven an otherwise functionally driven design, while the use of red brick adds colour. The single-storey building with verandas along one elevation highlights the original intention of the complex as a fever hospital with the emphasis on ready access to fresh air for the patients. The hospital’s significance in the city was cemented during the polio epidemic of 1956, which is commemorated in a recently unveiled memorial plaque in the grounds. The complex continues to serve as a hospital.