The Gables Colonial Hospital New Plymouth

The Gables Colonial Hospital
New Plymouth
Map
General information
Architectural styleGothic
LocationBrooklands Park Drive
Town or cityNew Plymouth
CountryNew Zealand
Coordinates39°04′08″S 174°04′54″E / 39.068907°S 174.08174°E / -39.068907; 174.08174
Current tenantsNorth Taranaki Arts Society
Construction started1847
Completed1848
OwnerNew Plymouth District Council
Design and construction
Architect(s)Frederick Thatcher
Designated24 November 1983
Reference no.29

The Gables in New Plymouth's Brooklands Park was a colonial hospital originally built in Mangorei Road, on the northern bank of the Henui Stream. It was one of the four hospitals Governor Sir George Grey commissioned in the late 1840s for European New Zealanders (Pakeha) and Maori patients in New Zealand’s North Island. Now an arts centre (since 1985), the building is historically important as it reminds of the first attempt to provide quality medical care to all New Zealanders and of Governor Sir George Grey's policy of assimilation by establishing mixed hospitals. The building also has rarity value as it is the last remaining of the four original hospitals. It is architecturally important as well, being one of the earliest surviving buildings designed by an architect in New Zealand.[1]

The Gables Colonial Hospital is one of the heritage buildings of the city, registered in 1983 by Heritage New Zealand as a Category 1 Historic Place.

  1. ^ "The Gables, New Plymouth". TeAra. Retrieved 10 February 2023.