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Condition

good

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Swan Maternity Hospital

Condition

Demolition approved 20/12/2011

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Statement of Significance

The brick and tile former hospital at No. 590 Newcastle Street has historic value through its essential role in the development of maternity and obstetrics health services and the provision of specialized maternity care in the area north of Perth during the first half of the 20th Century. The place has some social value as it was once a highly valued part of the health services available in the area

Physical Description

The single storey brick and tile dwelling is constructed in the Queen Anne Federation Bungalow style of architecture over two lots. The main original portion of the subject place has a two-room street frontage and a main hipped tiled roof form with broad simple roof planes and a gable over the central front entrance featuring a white painted barge board and white painted battens. The verandah forms part of a continuation of the main hipped roof form with an extended shallower pitch and originally extended the periphery of the building featuring timber posts and decorative valance and ornamental brackets typical of the Federation Queen Anne style. Much of the verandah has since been enclosed and the decorative detail removed. Internally the front entrance of the building opens into a long central hallway with the rooms projecting to the east and west of the central hallway forming part of the original portion of the maternity hospital. The rooms to the eastern portion of the original building form part of the extensions made to the building in the 1960s. Occupies a slightly upward sloping site overlooking Newcastle Street. Set back approximately five metres from the footpath and elevated above a brick wall which is approximately twelve brick courses high. Removal of the front timber valances and verandah curtains and the enclosure of most of the verandah. Additions and extensions to the outer shell of the building.

History

The Gold Rushes of the late 1890s and early 1900s resulted in an increase in the population and placed enormous pressure on existing maternity resources and facilities. As training opportunities improved, more trained midwives opened larger homes and provided services which the smaller homes could not compete with. The Swan Maternity Hospital, at No. 590 Newcastle Street, was built to facilitate the demand of maternity and obstetrics services in the local area in 1913. The hospital was advertised as having the privilege of “Each patient has a separate room”. The Wise’s Post Office Directories show that no occupier was listed at the subject lot at No. 590 Newcastle Street before 1914, indicating that the lot had not been developed before this time. In 1914 a private hospital is listed as occupying the subject place with Mrs. A. M. M. Stockley (Alice) in residence. Mrs. Stockley is listed until 1937 when her name was replaced by Mrs. A. F. Bell. Between 1939 and 1945 the place is listed as Swan Hospital, with Mrs. Stockley as the nurse. In 1945 the government adopted a new policy which provided maternity wards in all main hospitals. Many private maternity hospitals closed or were taken over by the government. The Swan Maternity Hospital changed its ownership to nurses Menzies and Jackson in 1944 and renamed to Blaich Appin Maternity Hospital in 1946. The State Record Office information confirms that the Department of Health purchased the Blaich Appin Maternity Hospital in 1949. The property remains under the ownership of the Department of Health to the present day. A Metropolitan Water Supply Sewerage & Drainage Department (MWSSD) Plan shows the outline of the property in 1952. The original layout of the subject place remains relatively intact nowadays. In 1968 alterations and additions were undertaken by a Principal Architect Leonard J.Walters from the Public Works Department of Western Australia for the Perth Child Guidance Clinic, Blaich Appin, Leederville. Most of the verandah was enclosed and an eight-room office was built on the original lawn and garden as a new addition.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium

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Strathcona/Carr Street Precinct

Values

· Excellent near-intact example of a modest residential street of the early Interwar Period.

Physical Description

Virtually intact streetscape of modest late-Federation period and early-Inter War period houses. Characteristically brick and tile, set back from the road on reasonably narrow blocks, with prominent front gables to rooflines. Low front fences and few major garden plantings mean most houses are easily visible from the road. Strathcona Street appears to be entirely free standing single-storey residences. Carr Street includes a number of duplexes, and features more corrugated iron roofing and bullnose verandahs. The only non-residential building reported within the precinct is a shop at the corner of the two streets.

History

The first houses in the precinct were reportedly the duplexes on Carr Street, constructed in 1907 (81-93). A long-term resident remembers these houses as having poor families living in them during World War Two, notable for their lack of shoes. Strathcona Street, named for a Canadian Parliamentarian of the nineteenth century, had four homes erected in 1914. The intervention of World War One halted development, but from 1919 construction began again, and most of the street was built in the 1920s. The corner shop is remembered as having been trading from at least the early 1930s. Photographs taken between 1928 and 1970 show little change in the streetscape.

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House

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Statement of Significance

The house at No 27 Violet street is the surviving one of a pair of identical Late Colonial Georgian houses. It is a fine example of its style and has been conserved by its owner.

Physical Description

Formerly one of a pair at Nos 25 and 27, owned by the same person. No 25 was demolished and No 27 was retained. Constructed in the early Federation period the house, nonetheless, is in the Late Colonial Georgian style. It has a simple symmetrical plan form covered with a hipped roof. The central front entry door, with sidelights and fanlights, is flanked by windows to each of the front rooms. The separate skillion verandah spans the full width of the front façade. It is supported on plain square timber posts set on rendered column bases with solid balustrades. The only visible chimney is set behind the ridge of the roof in a postion demonstrating it as a double fireplace set in dividing wall between the rooms on the left side of the central passage. Street oriented set close to the street, behind a narrow front garden, enclosed by a chain link fence None apparent

History

The place was built on Lot 4 of the original Perth Town Lot Y 253. In the 1890s, the Western Australian Gold Boom led to the suburbanization of Perth including the area known as West Perth. Many of the large Perth Town lots were subdivided for residential and commercial development. In 1890, Perth Town Lot Y 253 was purchased by Alexander Forrest, a well-known explorer, financial agent and entrepreneur, as an investment property. In August 1896, Forrest sold the lot to Elizabeth Herman, wife of Solomon Herman of Perth. Elizabeth Herman subdivided Perth Town Lot Y 253 and sold some of the lots in the 1890s. There were a few of dwellings built along Violet Street circa 1897 as indicated on a PWD Sewerage Plan, however it is uncertain to conclude that the subject dwelling was built at the time due to the indistinguishable subdivision boundary. Instead, it is believed that No. 27 Violet Street was built circa 1903 as the Building Licence cards show that T. Millar submitted a development application in that year to construct a dwelling at the subject lot. Ernest Eaton is first listed as the occupant at the subject dwelling in the Wise's Post Office Directories in 1908. The residency of the dwelling changed frequently over the years and the residents included George Pilkington, S. Bradley and Charles Butler. No. 25, to the south of No. 27 Violet Street, no longer extant, was built at the same time with an identical configuration with the subject place. A Sewerage Plan dated 1953 shows that both Nos. 27 and 25 have verandahs at the front and back and a galvanized iron addition at the rear. The entry of the subject dwelling on the Town's Municipal Heritage Inventory was requested by the then owner, after approval was given for the demolition of Nos. 21 and 25 in 2001, which he also owned. Nos. 27 and 25 were of the same design, but No. 27 was the most authentic of the three houses. At the time of demolition, both Nos. 21 and 25 had been greatly altered over the years, with most of the visible fabric is replacement material.

Integrity/Authenticity

High

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