The Ashburton County Hospital, as it was first known, was built to ensure it stood the test of time.

An Ashburton Guardian column from September 30, 1879, described the prime location that was chosen - An elevated area at the upper end of the Ashburton Domain, that was surrounded by healthiness and beauty, could never be hemmed in, and was said to enjoy easy drainage due to the old watercourse running close by.

During the hospital’s development, the Guardian stated that the finished product would be one of the “most perfect institutions of its class in the colony”.

Bricks for constructing the hospital were sourced from ‘Messrs Montgomery & Co.’s Brick Manufactory’, situated opposite the Ashburton Domain on the “North Town Belt” (Walnut Avenue).

Montgomery & Co.’s kiln produced the whopping 3 million bricks necessary for building the Ashburton County Hospital.

The initial structure was planned to be enlarged, with the addition of a north wing to be built as funds became available.

The exterior was considered to be of “compact and elegant” appearance, if slightly one-sided.

The style of architecture was Elizabethan, the outlines and proportions imposing and bold, and the general appearance either from a close inspection or a distant view pleasing to the eye.

Features and fittings

Inside, the handsome and spacious entrance provided thoroughfare to the warders’ room, kitchen, and main wards, which could accommodate six patients in each.

It was boasted that patients could enjoy 1584 cubic feet of ventilation per person (45 cubic metres), an important detail during an era in medical history when fresh, circulating air was seen as vital to health.

There were also rooms for nurses, a linen room, a lavatory, dispensary, consulting room, large laundry, and bathroom.

Six extra rooms were utilised by patients able to pay for the luxury of more skilled attendance. The hospital also had a fever ward, and a “padded room some distance away from the main building for lunatics”, the Guardian explains.

The morgue (near the windmill) and operating room were also detached, so that the ordinary patients would not have to hear the noise generated by the surgeons’ procedures.

It is not known when the first case was admitted to the hospital, but an inquest into the case of Michael Cuihey, who had met his end due to being the unfortunate recipient of a kick from a horse, was held on the premises on November 30, 1880.

The following month, Patrick McGuire died at the hospital of injuries resulting from a buggy accident in December, 1880.

Early imperfections

In its initial years of operation, there were several teething problems regarding maintenance of the building, which challenged the lofty goal of perfection lauded during the institution’s planning.

Among the necessary costs associated with repairs and extra equipment, the entirety of the slate roofing required replacement due to leakage. Ivy was planted on the exterior walls, to mitigate dampness.

By 1884, the Ashburton County Hospital Board were implementing cost-cutting measures.

Staff were expected to account for the “excessive” use of spirits (utilised for medical comfort) which had been consumed. Convalescent patients were used for night nursing whenever possible.

The master and matron of the hospital were given a month’s notice to vacate, and a new schedule of duties was written up, with applicants asked to state their salary expectations.

In 1885, the committee reported that the fever ward was uninhabitable, it was impossible to keep the wards free of chimney soot, and many walls went unpainted or papered.

In spite of all these practical issues, the work of caring for patients was considered to be of a high standard and was “fulfilling its function very satisfactorily and as far as funds permitted in a comfortable manner”, according to Maurice Otley’s History of Medicine in the Ashburton County.

In other words, a fine example of a ‘perfectly imperfect’ institution, which as we know, has stood the test of time, apart from the hospital buildings which have indeed changed considerably since the early days.

• Stories of our history from the Ashburton Museum - Jacqueline Paterson