This week demolition work began on the South block of Hanmer's Queen Mary Hospital, also known as the Rutherford Ward.
Other parts of the sprawling hospital complex, like the Soldiers' Block, have been restored in recent years after the hospital's closure in 2003 but the Rutherford Ward, built in the 1940s, is on the way out, with demolition works expected to be completed by early 2027.
Initially opened in 1916 to treat soldiers returning from WWI, the hospital was run by the military until 1922 when it was transferred to the Department of Health. Through the 1920s to the 1960s there was a strong focus on treating patients with mental health issues, or as a 1925 flyer puts it:
This hospital receives the following classes of case :--
(a) Functional Affectations of the Nervous System
(b) Convalescents after acute Medical or Surgical illnesses
Unlike some institutions, the hospital only treated patients who were there voluntarily.
From the 1970s the focus of treatment was on alcoholism and addiction.
The Rutherford Ward
The Rutherford Ward was built in the 1940s and named for local sheep farmer, Duncan Rutherford, who had offered the use of The Lodge Hotel for convalescing soldiers before the hospital was built and after an earlier sanatorium building had been lost to fire.
It was built, in an Art Deco style, as a ward for male patients and was intended to have a second storey which was never built. It also housed the telephone exchange and administration, and later the hospital kitchen, as well as the pharmacy.
Sir Bernard Fergusson, who is pictured below during a visit to the hospital, served as New Zealand Governor-General from 1962 to 1967.
Following demolition of the Rutherford Ward the area it occupied will be converted to lawn but with long-term plans that the area will eventually contain a mix of commercial, recreational and cultural activities.
There are also plans to restore other buildings on the former hospital site.
Find out more
-
Titles about the Queen Mary Hospital in the library collection - Demolition work starting at former Hanmer hospital site Otago Daily Times, 24 August 2026
- Queen Mary Hospital Soldiers Block restoration, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
- Queen Mary Hospital (former) heritage listing Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
- More photos of Queen Mary Hospital Canterbury Stories
- Queen Mary Hospital Wikipedia
- A call for care North & South, 14 August 2022
- Queen Mary Hospital Historic Reserve technical reports Hurunui District Council
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