St Helens Hospital
Situated in the former Sydenham Hotel at the corner of Durham Street South and Battersea Street, St Helens Hospital opened in April 1907. The building was demolished in 1982.
St Helens Hospitals were established by the government of Richard Seddon following the passing of the Nurses Registration Act 1901, and the Midwives Act 1904. The hospitals were named after the birthplace of Seddon, St Helens in Lancashire, England. The hospitals provided affordable accommodation to expectant mothers and also allowed nurses to be trained and receive certification.
The first St Helens Hospital in Christchurch opened in the former Sydenham Hotel which was situated at south east corner of Durham Street North and Battersea Street. The hotel building was originally constructed in 1893, for Henry Scrimshaw. It was closed as a hotel in 1895, due to Sydenham becoming a temperance district and later became known as Seddon House. It was situated next to the Salvation Army's Sydenham barracks.
When the building was purchased by the government in 1906, it had been in operation as a boarding house. Although the previous proprietor had made some efforts to improve the condition of the building, he noted that it had already been in a state of disrepair and believed to be haunted when he purchased it.
On 10 August 1906, the building was inspected by Members of Parliament, Henry George Ell, Charles Matthew Gray, George Laurenson, William Wilcox Tanner, and Thomas Henry Davey. They noted the interior was being demolished by the proprietor and the accumulation of rubbish in the rear yard. A section adjacent to the building, which was included in the purchase, was being used to dispose of manure.
Other members of the public noticed that it was an unsuitable site since the building was situated right against the corner of two busy streets in an area which had previously been affected by typhoid. It was also felt that the Salvation Army band, which usually practiced outside the barracks each evening, would be a disturbance to the occupants of the hospital. However, when Nurse Sibylla Emily Maude inspected the site, she declared the building to be satisfactory. While she agreed the location was not suitable due to noise and disruption, it was in a suitable location to serve the surrounding working class population.
The renovation work was inspected again in December by Ell. He noted that due to rot, some of the floor joists and wall studs had to be replaced. Only the southern and eastern walls of the building were lined with brick, the remaining were timber and plaster.
The hospital was opened by George Fowlds, the Minister of Health, on 16 April 1907. The hospital was to be overseen by Helen Clyde Inglis, who had been appointed matron, and Mary McKenzie, the sub-matron. They were assisted by four probationer nurses, and Dr Alice Moorhouse who was appointed as the medical officer.
The hospital offered ten patient bedrooms on the first floor. While most of the bedrooms had a single bed, some could also accommodate two beds. Ideally, the hospital could house up to fourteen patients. On the north eastern corner of the first floor was the nursery room which opened out onto a balcony overlooking the corner of Durham Street South and Battersea Street. There were also bathrooms, lavatories, and an operating room on the first floor. The ground floor consisted of accommodation for the nurses, bedrooms for the matron and sub-matron, the night nurses' bedroom, a sitting room, office, dining room for the nurses, and bathrooms and lavatories.
By 1919, there were plans to build a new hospital building and use the former hotel building as accommodation for the nurses. This, however, did not eventuate. By 1932, nurses were accommodated in a six roomed wooden building adjacent to the hospital. This was destroyed in a fire on 31 May 1932. A new nurses' home was built which opened on 11 September 1933.
It was eventually decided to build an entirely new maternity hospital at a site situated between Durham Street North and Colombo Street. The foundation stone for this new hospital was laid on 1 September 1945.
The hospital remained operating from its Sydenham location until July 1952. By the time it closed, an estimated 14,320 babies had been born at the hospital. The last baby born in the Sydenham hospital, on 3 July 1952, was Russell Reginald Brice.
The building was purchased by the Canterbury Aged People's Welfare Council, and renovated in 1955. As part of these renovations, the balcony was removed and the exterior weatherboard covered with stucco. It reopened as Langford House, an accommodation provider for the elderly.
Langford House closed in March 1982. The property was sold in April to a developer and the building demolished in September. The site was redeveloped after being rezoned for industrial use.
References
The New Maternity Home, Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14131, 4 August 1906, p.8.
The Maternity Home, Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14137, 11 August 1906, p.8.
The Maternity Home, Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 14141, 16 August 1906, p.4.
The Maternity Home, Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12684, 24 December 1906, p.7.
St Helen's Maternity Hospital, Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12780, 17 April 1907, p.8.
The Mother and the Child, Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14348, 17 April 1907, p.3.
Mothers and Babies, Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVI, Issue 14465, 31 August 1907, p.7.
St Helen's Maternity Hospital, Star, Issue 9027, 6 September 1907, p. 2.
Maternity Hospital, Star, Issue 12763, 6 October 1919, p.6.
Nurses' escape, Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 127, 31 May 1932, p.8.
Opening of Nurses' Home at St Helens Hospital, Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20958, 12 September 1933, p.16.
New St Helens Hospital, Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24661, 3 September 1945, p.2.
Old St. Helens Hospital, Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26763, 21 June 1952, p.8.
First girl at St Helens, Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26780, 11 July 1952, p.6.
Old Sydenham building awaits its fate, Press, 21 April 1982, p.21.