DEMOLITION OF HOSPITAL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29078, 15 December 1959, Page 18

DEMOLITION OF HOSPITAL

Seacliff Block Pulled Down

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, December 14.

In two hours a Christchurch demolition firm tumbled the 80-year-old main block of the Seacliff Mental Hospital this afternoon. Three giant bulldozers strained the coiner supports of the already weakened structure with wire straps to collapse the building, section by section.

In thick fog and heavy drizzle, steel-helmeted workmen took cover while the two-storey building crashed to the ground. It was the climax of six weeks’ work preparing the administration quarters, dining room and entertainment hall for demolition.

Extreme care was taken, and patients in a temporary day room at the back of the block were evacuated, while spectators retired to safety.

Under the supervision of Mr R. W. Morris, the South Island manager of the construction firm, the workers will demolish the rest of the buildings by the middle of next year. The building was condemned because the area on which it was built is slowly sinking. A line of movement passes the north end and the original north wing was demolished only five years after being built