House history - our whakapapa

This house on Colombo Street was built by Luke and Cooper in 1905. We're not really sure who they originally built it for but within a year it was leased by the government for St Helen's maternity hospital. (There was one in most cities). By the sounds of this article it wasn't an ideal setup. They had to turn people away! Which isn't surprising considering, between 1909 and 1910, 189 children were born in our house!!

At this time, Dr Agnes Bennet (born in NSW in 1872) was the medical super-intendant, according to Te Ara Encyclopaedia, she was incredibly progressive. In fact, after St Helen's, she moved to Wellington Children's Hospital to become the "first New Zealand appointment of a woman doctor to the staff of a public hospital". Nice to have her in our history!

Later on she would go to World War 1 (photo on the left) to command the 7th Medical Unit of the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service, Macedonia, Serbia, during World War I.

After the hospital was moved to a more suitable site near Constable Street, the house became a private residence of Charles MacLoughlin, a "herbalist" and medical practitioner. It would stay in their wider family till the hospital board took it over in September 1952. It's unclear what they did with it back then but it's rumoured that the 2 blocks of 4 flats on our property were built for nurses accommodation.

At some stage the hospital turned it into consulting rooms for the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre. Two of our neighbour houses were part of this campus as well. One of them on Adelaide road was the methadone clinic. At the same time the clinic was operating, the old nurses' flats were turned into accommodation for Wellink clients (clients of the clinic). They were living there up till 2006, for quite a few of the Greenhaus community's first years.