LINAY PAVILION, WARD 7 AND WARD 9, THE ALFRED HOSPITAL
55 COMMERCIAL ROAD MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY

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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Linay Pavilion is a nineteenth century brick hospital building, which was constructed as part of the Alfred Hospital in 1885.
The Alfred was Melbourne's second public hospital, which was designed in 1869 by the prominent Melbourne architect Charles Webb after he won a competition for the commission. The Hospital was opened in 1871. It was named in honour of Queen Victoria's son, Prince Alfred, who in 1869 had been the subject of an attempted assassination while on a visit to Sydney. The Linay Wing was built following a substantial bequest to the hospital in 1883 from John Linay, a former Prahran timber merchant. In accordance with the principles of hospital design laid down by Florence Nightingale in England, The ground and first floors of the Linay Pavilion had long narrow open wards, known as Wards 7 and 9, which had large windows along each side to maximise natural light and ventilation. The wing continues to be used as part of the hospital, while the open wards were used until the 1960s. Many changes have been made since then: several additions have been made to the building, some elements have been removed and the wards have been partitioned. The removal of the partitioning has the potential to more clearly reveal the original intent and function of the Place.
The Linay Pavilion is a two-storey polychrome brick building in a Queen Anne revival style with a gabled and hipped slate roof. On the southern and eastern elevations are curvilinear parapeted gables. At the north end of the building is a stair hall, lit by a stained glass window, with an impressive cantilevered bluestone staircase with a cast iron balustrade. The original freestanding linear form of the building is partially obscured by internally unsympathetic additions and the construction of buildings around it. The multi-faith centre on the ground floor includes stained-glass windows thought to be from the original main hospital building.
This site is part of the traditional land of the Kulin Nation.
How is it significant?
The Linay Pavilion is of historical significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The Linay Pavilion is historically significant as the only remaining nineteenth century building of The Alfred Hospital, which was designed in 1869 by the prominent architect Charles Webb and opened in 1871. Webb's design included an East Wing, built as the Linay Pavilion in 1885 when it was made possible by a very substantial bequest from local timber merchant, John Linay. This bequest was particularly directed towards healthcare in Melbourne, as it included the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum and the Melbourne Hospital, as well as The Alfred Hospital.
The building is historically significant as the only remaining example in Victoria of the linear pavilion form of nineteenth century hospital ward buildings, designed in accordance with the principles laid down by Florence Nightingale to maximise ventilation and so minimise infection.
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LINAY PAVILION, WARD 7 AND WARD 9, THE ALFRED HOSPITAL - History
CONTEXTUAL HISTORY
Melbourne's early hospitals
The first public hospital in Melbourne opened in the late 1830s in a cottage. Prior to this there were only government and military hospitals in the settlement. Whilst free settlers were sometimes treated in these hospitals, a lack of accommodation and resources made the need for a public hospital an ever increasing issue. In 1842, John Pascoe Fawkner lent a two-storey building with 20 beds, and a separate room for outpatients, as temporary hospital premises. However, it was not long before the rapidly growing community needed a central, general hospital.
On 1 March 1841, a group of influential citizens, headed by Charles La Trobe, Superintendent of the Port Phillip District, called for a public meeting to discuss the urgent need for an enlarged public hospital. The Government granted a site for the hospital, and in March 1846 the foundation stone of the Melbourne Hospital was laid on the corner of Lonsdale and Swanston Streets. Further buildings were added throughout the nineteenth century. The buildings were replaced with a new hospital which opened in 1913, but the hospital moved to its present site in Grattan Street in 1935.
The Alfred Hospital
[From the nomination report and from information on the Alfred Hospital website at http://www.alfred.org.au/Department.aspx?ID=121]Melbourne's population grew rapidly during the mid-nineteenth century as a result of the increased immigration after the goldrushes. While Melbourne's population exploded, essential infrastructure struggled to meet the increased demand and until 1870 the Melbourne Hospital was the only public hospital. The Alfred hospital was initiated in 1869 as a result of the work of a number of Melbourne doctors who fought a long battle for an additional general hospital in Melbourne.
Central to the ongoing battle between the supporters for a new hospital and the Melbourne hospital administrators was a number of factors. The New Hospital (the original name of The Alfred) supporters were highly qualified physicians who had been excluded from the Melbourne Hospital. There also was the fear of Melbourne Hospital administrators that any new acute care facility would represent competition for the small pool of funds made available by charitable institutions.
In 1869, a suspected Fenian activist, O'Farrell, in Clontarf, Sydney, shot the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Alfred. The citizens of both Sydney and Melbourne commenced fundraising to build hospitals as a monument to the restoration to health of Prince Alfred. In Melbourne, the committee for the New Hospital and supporters for a hospital to memorialize Prince Alfred joined forces. Prahran Council donated a parcel of land and in 1869 the Melbourne architect Charles Webb won the competition to design The Alfred Hospital.
The hospital accepted its first out-patients in March 1871 and in-patients from April, though it was not officially opened until May.
Webb incorporated the principles of hospital design established by Florence Nightingale, with large light filled pavilions as wards, connected by covered corridors or walkways. These were established partly as a result of the lack of understanding of the sources of infection. The Hospital's first matron, Miss HaldaneTurriff, was an acolyte of Florence Nightingale, and was sent to the antipodes to train nurses.
Since its inception, The Alfred set itself apart from the Melbourne Hospital and The Alfred was at the vanguard of health care provision. Being physically remote from the advances being made in Europe and the United States, both the Melbourne and Alfred hospitals developed a culture of self sufficiency and innovation. The first planned caesarean section operation recorded in Australia from which both mother and child survived was performed at The Alfred in 1885. The Alfred has a long tradition of medical innovation including the first working heart-lung machine, developed in 1957.
The architect: Charles Webb
Charles Webb (1821-1898) was born in 1821 in Suffolk, the son of a builder. He attended Sudbury Academy and was later apprenticed to a London architect. His brother James (1808-1870) had migrated to Van Diemen's Land in 1830 and crossed to Port Phillip in 1839 where he set up as a builder, and in 1848 he bought Brighton Park, Brighton, from Henry Dendy. Charles decided to join James and in June 1849, with his sister and her family, arrived at Melbourne. Another brother, Richard, followed later and became a timber merchant in Brighton.
Charles lived with James at Brighton and they went into partnership as architects and surveyors. Their most important early commission was in 1850 for St Paul's Church, Swanston Street; but its construction was disrupted by the gold rush, and in December 1851 Webb briefly and unsuccessfully joined the rush near Bendigo.
Charles and James built many warehouses and private homes, a synagogue in the city and the galleries in John Knox Presbyterian Church, and continued the design of St Stephen's, Richmond. They built many shops and houses at Brighton. James went to England in 1854-56 and Webb practised for four years in partnership with Thomas Taylor, designing St Andrew's Church, Brighton, and receiving an important commission for Melbourne Church of England Grammar School in 1855. In 1857 he added a tower and a slender spire to Scots Church, which James had built in 1841. Webb practised on his own from 1858 until 1888 when two of his sons joined him. He designed Wesley College in 1864, the Alfred Hospital and the Royal Arcade in 1869, the South Melbourne Town Hall and the Melbourne Orphan Asylum in 1878 and the Grand Hotel (now the Windsor) in 1884. In 1865 he had designed his own home, Farleigh, in Park Street, Brighton, and in 1875 Mount Noorat for Niel Black.
He was a founding member of the Victorian Institute of Architects in 1856 and was president in 1882-83.
HISTORY OF PLACE
The Linay Pavilion was built following a bequest from John Linay, a Prahran timber merchant. The Argus of 3 July 1883 records that Linay, who had 'died recently in Hobart' had bequeathed nearly £34,000 to Melbourne charities, to be divided between the Melbourne Hospital, The Alfred Hospital and the Benevolent Asylum. The Argus of 1 August 1885 notes that with the bequest The Alfred had erected 'a new eastern pavilion, now called the Linay Pavilion', in the staircase of which was placed a tablet with the inscription 'In memory of John Linay, by whose munificent bequest the managers were enabled to erect this pavilion January 1885.'
As was the case in the rest of the hospital, the building had large open wards, as laid down by Florence Nightingale, and beds on the verandah for convalescent patients and those with fractures. It housed two wards: Ward 7 was upstairs, and Ward 9 on the ground floor. Ward 9 evolved to become the Alfred's first intensive care area and later housed the renal dialysis service. The interior has now been divided up, and part of Ward 7 has been made into a chapel and the remainder is now largely used as offices.
LINAY PAVILION, WARD 7 AND WARD 9, THE ALFRED HOSPITAL - Plaque Citation
Built in 1885 following a bequest by John Linay, this is the only remaining ward of the old Alfred Hospital, designed in 1869 by Charles Webb. It is a unique surviving demonstration of Florence Nightingale's principles of hospital design.
LINAY PAVILION, WARD 7 AND WARD 9, THE ALFRED HOSPITAL - Assessment Against Criteria
Criterion A - Importance to the course, or pattern of Victoria's cultural history
The opening of the Alfred Hospital in 1871 was a significant event in Victoria's history. While the building was not constructed until 1884-85, it appears to have been designed by Charles Webb as a part of the original hospital complex and can still be 'read' as a hospital building constructed in accordance with the Nightingale Principles. The principles were to markedly reduce mortality rates in hospitals at a time when the causes of infection were not understood. Of particular importance are the long narrow wards oriented north-south (which, despite more recent partitioning, are still evident) and the large windows. It is also the only remaining 19th century, purpose built, Nightingale form, and pavilion style hospital building in Victoria.
Criterion B - Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria's cultural history
It is a rare example in Victoria, of a purpose built 19th century hospital building, constructed in accordance with the Nightingale Principles remaining within a contemporary hospital environment. The building gives a unique insight into the management of infectious diseases in the 19th century and provides information about the development of hospitals through to the late twentieth century.
Criterion C - Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria's cultural history
Although the building has been modified, much of the original structure remains. Its original form and function can still be read and therefore can educate people about hospital practices at the time. Despite its alterations the building is able to yield information about the principles set out by Florence Nightingale for the prevention of infections spreading, and for the arrangement of wards, beds, ventilation and light. The removal of the internal walls has the potential to further reveal the form and significance of the Place.
Criterion D - Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects
The building demonstrates the characteristic features of a nineteenth century hospital building designed in accordance with the Nightingale Principles. These include the linear pavilion plan and large, well-ventilated and well-lit wards, designed to minimise mortality rates.
LINAY PAVILION, WARD 7 AND WARD 9, THE ALFRED HOSPITAL - Permit Exemptions
General Exemptions:General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions. Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.Specific Exemptions:General Conditions: 1. All exempted alterations are to be planned and carried out in a manner which prevents damage to the fabric of the registered place or object. General Conditions: 2. Should it become apparent during further inspection or the carrying out of works that original or previously hidden or inaccessible details of the place or object are revealed which relate to the significance of the place or object, then the exemption covering such works shall cease and Heritage Victoria shall be notified as soon as possible. General Conditions: 3. If there is a conservation policy and plan all works shall be in accordance with it. Note: A Conservation Management Plan or a Heritage Action Plan provides guidance for the management of the heritage values associated with the site. It may not be necessary to obtain a heritage permit for certain works specified in the management plan. General Conditions: 4. Nothing in this determination prevents the Executive Director from amending or rescinding all or any of the permit exemptions. General Conditions: 5. Nothing in this determination exempts owners or their agents from the responsibility to seek relevant planning or building permits from the responsible authorities where applicable. Minor Works: Note: Any Minor Works that in the opinion of the Executive Director will not adversely affect the heritage significance of the place may be exempt from the permit requirements of the Heritage Act. A person proposing to undertake minor works must submit a proposal to the Executive Director. If the Executive Director is satisfied that the proposed works will not adversely affect the heritage values of the site, the applicant may be exempted from the requirement to obtain a heritage permit. If an applicant is uncertain whether a heritage permit is required, it is recommended that the permits co-ordinator be contacted.Interior Works: Removal or reconfiguration of demountable office partitioning and ceilings is exempt from the need for a permit provided that it does not involve any works or alterations to the original fabric of the building.
LINAY PAVILION, WARD 7 AND WARD 9, THE ALFRED HOSPITAL - Permit Exemption Policy
PERMIT POLICY and PERMIT EXEMPTIONS
Permit Policy
The purpose of the Permit Policy is to assist when considering or making decisions regarding works to the place. It is recommended that any proposed works be discussed with an officer of Heritage Victoria prior to making a permit application. Discussing any proposed works will assist in answering any questions the owner may have and aid any decisions regarding works to the place. It is recommended that a Conservation Management Plan is undertaken to assist with the future management of the cultural significance of the place.
All of the registered building is integral to the significance of the place and any external or internal alterations are subject to permit application. Additions to the building may impact upon the cultural heritage significance of the place and requires a permit. The purpose of this requirement is not to prevent any further development on this site, but to enable control of possible adverse impacts on heritage significance during that process.
A number of unsympathetic alterations and additions have been made to the building over the years, The removal of these later additions would be encouraged.
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Notes See all notes
Ray Brown • 25/05/15
The Linay Pavillion was designed by Charles Webb and opened in 1871 and named in honour of Prince Alfred. The stairwell stained glass and many others are the work of Ferguson & Urie. The claim that the building was the bequest of a wealthy timber merchant John Linay is completely incorrect! See: http://wp.me/p28nLD-Bm
Public contributions
Notes See all notes
Ray Brown • 25/05/15
The Linay Pavillion was designed by Charles Webb and opened in 1871 and named in honour of Prince Alfred. The stairwell stained glass and many others are the work of Ferguson & Urie. The claim that the building was the bequest of a wealthy timber merchant John Linay is completely incorrect! See: http://wp.me/p28nLD-Bm