South Perth Community Centre Hospital

Statement of Significance

• The place has some aesthetic value for its remaining form and detail expressing the Post War International style executed in a range of materials.
• The place has aesthetic value as a landmark in the streetscape since 1956 which contributes to the community sense of place.
• The place has historic value for its association with the period following World War II when the demands on health services lead the community to organise and initial a plan to build a hospital for the district.
• The place has historic value for its association with the members of the community who fundraised and lobbied to build a hospital in the district.
• The place has social value for the many members of the community who have attended the place as clients or staff and the family and friends of those associated with the place since 1956.

Physical Description

The South Perth Hospital is located on the western perimeter of the Ernest Johnson Reserve, bounded on the other three sides by South Terrace, Fortune Street and Burch Street.

The hospital complex was originally a collection of linked, single storey wards with theatres at the rear (northern side) of the site arranged around a series of quads (garden courtyards). The original sections of the building have salmon brick walls and terracotta tiled, hipped and gable roofs. The hospital has been gradually added to over the years, particularly in the 1970s/1980s when additional ranged were added. The eastern side of the complex was constructed in the 1990s and the two storey south east corner building being constructed in 2010 which created a new aesthetic for the hospital.

The original design of the complex was always utilitarian incorporating a range of single storey brick buildings with tiled roofs, all of a domestic scale but the hospital always lacked a prominent entrance. The entrance on South Terrace has been variously altered and following the construction of the two storey corner section, a more prominent entry feature with glass doors and full height windows has been constructed creating a presence in the streetscape. A more recent alteration has rectified this by providing a focal icon.

The two storey corner addition creates a contrast to the single storey brick ranges and was a marked departure from the original design. The façade to South Terrace is dark tinted glass to the entire elevation. The hospital was always constructed at an angle to South Terrace and all subsequent additions have maintained this orientation.

History

After World War II, several private hospitals in the City of South Perth closed for economic reasons. This left South Perth with a great shortage of hospital services. For a number of years, doctors in the area experienced major difficulty in finding beds for sick patients and the use of operating theatres for minor operations.

In 1949, the South Perth Community Centre Association (which had been formed in 1945) decided that action should be taken to establish in the district a small cottage hospital of about 10 bed capacity which would be able to deal with minor medical and surgical cases. This was later considered to be unviable and plans were floated for a larger hospital of 26 beds, with necessary accommodation for staff and with adequate technical and domestic facilities, operating theatre and other facilities.

A £10,000 fund-raising appeal was launched which resulted in a sum of about £21,000 being collected by 1953. The total cost of the enterprise could not be raised solely by voluntary donations from the residents of South Perth, so support was sought and promised by the State Government and the Lotteries Commission. The South Perth Road Board donated approximately three quarters of an acre of land, and Location 40, Lots 9/10 South Terrace and Lot 2 Fortune Street, were resumed for a hospital site. Architects’ plans for a Hospital and Nurses’ Quarters were prepared by architects Robert Blatchford and Johnson and approved on 15 January 1954. Tenders for construction were called in December 1953 and the tender of £84,150 ($190,000) from Sandwell and Woods Pty Ltd was accepted. Construction was commenced in January 1954, however by the time construction was completed, the total cost had increased to about $250,000, of which the State Government and the Lotteries Commission each contributed $90,000.

Soon after construction commenced, a Furnishing Committee of voluntary amateurs was formed, and they prepared a list of required items which totalled about $20,000. A number of other individuals, firms and organisations gave help ‘in kind’. For example, the South Perth Horticultural Society planned the garden layout, and donated and planted scores of rose bushes and shrubs.

The hospital was officially opened by the Premier, Hon A R G Hawke, in April 1956. The hospital was administered by a Management Board. At the time, there were some innovative aspects to the hospital, namely, the new type of dry-bake sterilising equipment and the modern, therapeutic colour-scheme. There were times when financial aid had to be obtained from the bank, but gradually the hospital achieved financial independence without ongoing subsidies.

A Maternity Wing, added in June 1959, was converted into Consulting Rooms in 2004. Over the years, other additions have been made to the Hospital, including the following major works:
• 1978: modification of the nurses’ quarters for use as Medical Consulting Rooms;
• 1983: two storey additions for office use;
• 1986 and 1987: major improvements and additions to the Hospital’s bathrooms;
• 1993: additions and modifications to operating theatres and an X-ray department;
• 1994: addition of an endoscopy day clinic;
• 2007: two-storey alterations and additions, including additional operating and procedural areas; expansion of the Day Procedure Unit; additional administration offices on the first floor; deletion of 9 on-site car bays; and the addition of air conditioning coolers, a medical oxygen storage tank, fire pump and two water tanks in a 5.0 metre high brick building on the Burch Street frontage.

With the increasing range of services provided by the Hospital over the years, the site has been expanded by the purchase of adjoining land whenever feasible to do so.
Initially known as ‘South Perth Community Centre Hospital Inc.’, the name was altered to first remove the word ‘Centre’, and then in October 2003, to remove the word ‘Community’, from the title. Originally a concept of the South Perth Community Centre Association, the hospital itself remains a community-based operation, with a voluntary Board drawn from its membership.

Integrity/Authenticity

High / Moderate

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.