Mount View Lunatic Asylum
Hospital in Wellington, New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mount View Lunatic Asylum (alternates: Mt. View Lunatic Asylum, Mount View Asylum) was a psychiatric hospital located on 113 acres (46 ha) near the Basin Reserve in Wellington, New Zealand. Government House is now located on what were the asylum grounds.[1] Work began in 1872, and the hospital opened in May 1873.[2] It replaced Karori Lunatic Asylum, the first asylum in the country that was independent of a prison.[3] Mount View was designed to accommodate around 50 patients.[4] In May 1873, 27 patients moved from Karori to Mount View.[5][6] An expansion was required soon after the asylum opened to accommodate more patients, so in 1879 the two-storey wooden structure was enlarged with a block for 50 male patients, and another wing was built during 1880.[7]
| Mount View Lunatic Asylum | |
|---|---|
Mount View Asylum, c. 1906 | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 41.306114°S 174.7810835°E (current Government House) |
| Organisation | |
| Type | Specialist |
| Services | |
| Beds | 200 |
| Speciality | Psychiatric hospital |
| History | |
| Former names | Mt. View Lunatic Asylum, Mount View Asylum |
| Opened | 1873 |
| Closed | 1910 |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in New Zealand |
From 1876 asylums were under government control and Dr Frederick Skae was appointed as administrator.[8] J.H. Whitelaw was the lay administrator of Mount View and in 1881, after a complaint about treatment of patients, he was charged with violence towards them which resulted in investigations by a royal commission.[9][10] Skae had supported Whitelaw's appointment but was held responsible when the commission upheld the charges.[10] In 1895, under the inspector of asylums Duncan Macgregor, nurse Grace Neill became an official visitor to Mount View.[11]
Around 1885 two additional wards were constructed.[12] By 1905 there were 250 patients but within the next five years, they were transferred to Porirua Lunatic Asylum and other asylums, before Mount View's closure in 1910.[8][4]