Truby King Harris Hospital, Every Street, Dunedin

c. 1942

Hocken Pictorial Collection S14-023

Photograph

In 1938, the year Truby King died, a new Karitane Baby hospital was built at the Every Street site in Anderson’s Bay. Designed by Arthur Salmond in the Modernist style, the new hospital epitomised the ‘modernist ideals of hygiene and fresh air’. The hospital had room for 30 babies and ten mothers plus matrons, nurses and associated staff. Queen Elizabeth, already the mother of two children herself, visited the hospital in January 1954. All Karitane nurse training was undertaken at Every Street until 1964. The facility closed in 1978, mainly due to dwindling funds and gradual societal changes. The hospital is now a Heritage building currently being renovated into apartments.