Auckland City Hospital

Auckland Hospital, 1910

Originally, a timber hospital occupied the Auckland City Hospital site from 1846 to 1877, providing four wards of 10 beds each, and having been designed by Frederick Thatcher, the architect of the St Mary's Church in Parnell. The hospital treated both Europeans and Māori, though the diseases were different, with the Pakeha treated mostly for the effects of alcohol abuse, while the Māori came for tuberculosis and rheuma treatment.[5] Thomas Moore Philson was superintendent of the hospital from 1859 to 1883.[6]

In 1877, a new building in an Italianate style was constructed for £25,000, designed by Philip Herepath, architect to the provincial government. Administered by T M Philson, the new hospital became known for taking on many charity cases but, partly in response, was also continually understaffed and overcrowded. There were also complaints about the limited training of the staff, which changed only with the hiring of a new matron, Miss Crisp, in 1883. Having trained in the new tradition of Florence Nightingale, she is credited with turning the hospital from an 'old men with alcoholism institution' into a real hospital and instituting real nurse training.[5]

The older part of Auckland City Hospital, now the support building, as seen from the Auckland Domain. Visible in front is the smokestack of the complex's central heating.

The Herepath building was demolished in 1964 to make way for a new structure designed by architects Stephenson & Turner, which was completed in 1967, and still remains.[5]

During the health reforms of the New Zealand health system in the early 1990s, Auckland Hospital was run as a business - in the model of state-owned enterprises of New Zealand, i.e. with the instruction to return a profit. In accordance with this policy, Auckland Hospital was officially known as Auckland Crown Health Enterprise. [7]

The current hospital facility, opened in 2003, is an amalgam of four previously separate hospitals: Auckland Hospital (acute adult care), Starship (acute children's care), Green Lane Hospital (cardio-thoracic care) and National Women's Hospital (maternity, newborn and obstetrics and gynecology).[2]

The hospital is situated in a NZ$180 million building which was built between 2000 and 2003.[1] It is nine levels high (ten including plant), five levels less than the older part of the hospital, which has now become the support building. The new structure with 75,575 m² [1] is one of New Zealand's largest public buildings. It was designed by Jasmax in conjunction with McConnel Smith and Johnson Architects Sydney, and built by Fletcher Construction.[8]