The Dee Street Hospital was constructed in sections over a period of nearly 40 years as a response to Invercargill’s growing population. Beginning with the North Wing in 1863, local architect F.W. Burwell added a Central Block in 1876, then in 1879 the South Wing, which was originally used as accommodation for a House Surgeon. All three Blocks were linked by corridors. The North Wing was later demolished to make way for a new section, named the Victoria Wing, in honour of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. After the creation of the West Wing at Kew Hospital in 1957, Dee Street became solely a centre for maternity services, finally closing in 1979 with the introduction of Kew’s Obstetric Ward. Because of the architectural significance of the buildings, the Central and South blocks were placed under the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1984, then leased to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery Trust in 1988. In 1985, the Victoria Wing was demolished. The Hospital blocks were designed in a Victorian Classical style, the Central section beautifully decorated internally and externally in plasterwork. The site also houses the Hospital porter’s lodge, the original gates and masonry and cast-iron fences.

Sources: Heritage New Zealand; A History of Hospitals and Healthcare: 1860s to the Present by Brent Coats, REF: LC 362.11 COA