Photographs of Seacliff Hospital

By 1876 there was a need for a larger asylum as the Dunedin Lunatic Asylum was becoming increasingly crowded. With the abolition of the provincial government, the central government backed plans to build a farm asylum at Seacliff, north of Dunedin.

The architect for the project was Mr G A Lawson and by 1884 all the patients from the Dunedin Asylum were accommodated at the Seacliff Site.

Unfortunately the site at Seacliff proved unstable and the hospital had problems with slumping ground throughout its history, leading to its eventual demise.

In 1957 the Ministry of Works declared the main building at Seacliff unsafe for habitation and there was an emergency evacuation of the building. At this stage some patients were transferred to the new facilities at Cherry Farm, however some patients had to be sent to hospitals in other centres. The hospital continued to function using the various wooden outlying buildings. In 1964 Seacliff Hospital ceased to take new admissions and finally closed in 1972, with the remaining patients being transferred to the nearby Cherry Farm Hospital.

The first group of photographs shows the Hospital and its grounds between 1890 and 1910. The second group shows the demolition of the main hospital in late 1950's.