THE QUEEN VICTORIA WOMENS HOSPITAL BUILT 1842.

3 years ago
31

And here is the offical history (the illusion is falling):

The site was originally the Melbourne Hospital, built in the 1840s-1860s as series of Tudor style buildings. The hospital was completely rebuilt on a much larger scale between 1910–1916 to a design by architect John James Clark in partnership with his son E J Clark. The hospital was composed of several 5-6 storey Edwardian pavilions or towers, running north–south, housing the ward blocks, each with open verandahs for patients to convalesce in the open air. Tudor domed cupolas topped the front corners of each tower.[1] The hospital became the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1935, and moves began to relocate to a former pig market site in Parkville. The new hospital was completed in 1941, but was occupied as a military hospital during the war. The move finally took place in 1944, and the old buildings were then occupied by the Queen Victoria Hospital, established 'by women for women' in 1896[2] and renamed the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in 1901 after the queen's death.[3]

In 1986 with the pending relocation and amalgamation of the hospital, the site was to be redeveloped to house expansions of the State Library and Museum located on the block next door to the north, and a competition was held, with a condition being the preservation of the three towers. One such design by post-modern architects Edmond & Corrigan included a giant pyramid as the new book stacks on Swanston Street.[4]

The hospital was closed in 1987, and the site was valued at A$63 million. During the financial squeeze of the early 1990s, it was eventually sold for only $15 million to property developer David Marriner in 1992. All but three of the hospital pavilions were demolished in the following years, with the final two that would have been preserved demolished in 1994 with a permit from then Planning Minister Rob Maclellan over-ruling the Historic Buildings Council.[5]

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