BOPDHB History Whakatāne Hospital History Book | Page 53

Multi-storey Nurses’ Home, built 1963, demolished May 2011
This five-storey building was, for over a decade, the tallest building on the Hospital campus. It
was built to house all the nursing staff at the time but in later years Government policy changes
and changing social, cultural, and economic circumstances resulted in diminishing occupancy. This
building was physically located to the west of the 1957 Nurses’ Home and joined it at the dining
room of the earlier building and a modern cafeteria. The top of the building was reached by a short
stairway from the fourth floor which led to an all glass porch out to the roof-top sundeck. From here
there were uninterrupted views of Putauaki (Mt Edgecumbe) to the west, Moutuhora (Whale Island)
to the north and Te Urewera to the south. The fourth floor had the Matron’s flat and accommodation
for senior staff, the third floor was for all the hospital sisters, with senior nurses on the second floor
and senior trainees on the first floor.

Multi-storey Nurses’ Home, built in 1963 and demolished in May 2011. Photo: Author’s personal collection, 2011

Laundry, established 1923
Laundry & Boiler House complex, built 1937
The Laundry and the Boiler House have experienced several relocations over the history of the Hospital
site. It is likely that, as the Hospital developed, prime sites for additions were chosen close to the
original building, forcing the ‘services’ such as the supply of steam and hot water for the wards,
kitchen and the laundry to move further to the south of the site. Shortly after the completion of the
Laundry and Boiler House complex in 1937, immediately behind the Kitchen, the Board acquired more
than an acre of land behind the Hospital site, on Garaway Street, which provided a ‘back entrance’
to the rear of the Hospital as it existed at the time. It was this land acquisition which resulted in the
Board locating of the Medical Superintendent’s house south of the main Hospital complex in 1939
instead of on Stewart Street as planned earlier.

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