Medical Buildings and Medical Theory: An Archaeological Investigation of Ashburton Hospital, New Zealand

Abstract

This research examines the extent to which hospital buildings reflect changing approaches to medical treatment in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It uses Ashburton hospital as a case study, covering its initial construction in 1880, through subsequent periods of additions and remodelling up until the present day. The focus here is on four of the oldest buildings, and both historical information and buildings archaeology recording are used to define a room-by-room sequence of construction and modification events. Each event is analysed for attributes that reflect change over time at the hospital. The findings produced here are paired against evolving medical understanding and wider concepts of hospital building change to place Ashburton hospital within a global framework.