How lovely is this doorway.

“How lovely is this doorway? Can we take it with us?”

• Kim Simpson, Volunteer and Community Coordinator, Lower Hunter Sector

A former main entrance to Maitland Hospital (Kim Simpson)

Kim Simpson sent the above message and this photo of the entrance between the 1849 and 1905 buildings on the Maitland Hospital site. At one stage, this was the main entrance to the hospital.

Kim’s email set me thinking about the amazing architectural features from different eras scattered throughout the hospital, and about the ways in which they have been adapted, used, hidden, joined and sometimes closed in order to accommodate a growing and diversifying hospital. These features evoke change, elegance, make-do, neglect, ingenuity. They are also reminders of the site as a jigsaw of buildings from different eras.

Below is a small selection of the features and views that highlight different architectural styles alongside adaptive reuse and the joining of spaces and buildings.

The lovely doorway in situ.

1849 building on left, 1905 on right.

Joining buildings.

1849 building on left, 1940s in background, 1905 on right.

Stairwell linking 1849 and 1905 buildings.

From stairwell towards Wunderlich ceiling in the foyer between 1849 and 1905 buildings.

Detail of the Wunderlich ceiling.

Verandah, 1849 building.

Basement door, 1905 building.

Basement door (detail), 1905 building.

Covered walkway and additional spaces between 1849 and 1905 buildings.

Exterior passageway between 1905 and 1940s buildings.

Providing services to old buildings.

1905 building on left, 1940s on right.

Services attached to wall of 1940s building.

1940s building (detail).

1940s art deco remains.

Stairwell in 1930s/40s hospital entrance.

Now a fire stair.

1930s/40s staircase.

1930s/40s staircase.

Adaptive reuse of a verandah in the Special Care Nursery.

Sign showing where the cold water shut off valve used to be located.

Former isolation ward, now Volunteers, building.

Detail from former bathroom in former isolation ward building.

Joining buildings - 1940s on left, 2010 in the centre back, 1990s on right.

Photographs by Catharine Neilson and Janis Wilton, 2019 to 2020.