Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Boksburg-Benoni Hospital Complex Boksburg, Gauteng STEGMANN, ORPEN and PORTER: Architect

Date: 1938 Type: Hospital Status: Unknown   Click to view large map Coordinates: 26°13'05.17" S 28°14'41.21" E Alt: 1629m

Uncertain whether these buildings are extant but if so would be incorporated into the Tambo Memorial Hospital. Completed Additions to Boksburg-Benoni Hospital Illustrated When the Boksburg-Benoni Hospital was founded in August, 1905, its buildings were ordinary brick and plaster structures roofed with corrugated iron, and its grounds were only eight morgen in extent. At that time it was partly a Government and partly a mines hospital, the East Rand Proprietary Mines Ltd., having contributed £7,500 towards the estimated cost of £30,000. Accommodation was limited to 70 patients, of which 40 were Europeans. At various times additions to its buildings were made. The original Native ward, a wood and iron shanty, was replaced by a building to accommodate 50 non-European patients, comprising 38 males and 12 females. During 1935, a new European surgical block was completed to accommodate 72 patients; and recently the grounds of the Hospital were extended by another four morgen. Today, the Boksburg-Benoni Hospital ranks as one of the most important hospital institutions on the Reef. New buildings, and additions to the old, have been erected at a cost of approximately £200,000. These extensions and alterations have provided 100 new beds for European adults, 56 of the old beds being retained, 34 new beds for children and 158 new beds for Natives. Extensions to the Hospital may be summarised as follows: To the European ward block there has been added another floor to accommodate the new children's ward. At the western end of the old block a new five storey north wing has been built, accommodating on each floor an 18-bed ward divided into sections of 6 beds each, arranged on the "parallel bed" system. Each of these sections has sliding glass-panelled doors opening out on to the wide cantilever balconies. Directly linked with this wing, but extending south, is a new wing at present under construction. This wing will accommodate the administrative, out-patients', casualty and special departments as well as quarters for the residential medical officer. Future ward extensions will link up with this south wing on its west, and will comprise banks of 30-bed units, five floors high. This provision for the future will allow an ultimate capacity of between 600 and 700 European beds. On the north side of the European ward block a new Native Hospital has been built. It accommodates 158 new beds, in ward units of 36 beds each. A Native maternity floor has been included· in this new block to accommodate 24 beds, a delivery room, sterilizing room, a room for immediate waiting cases, an operating theatre and a surgeon's wash-up, etc. In addition, there is an 8-bed self-contained maternity isolation unit. It is intended that this new Native block will be used for females when a new ward block for Native males has been erected. The two blocks will then be linked together by an administrative section containing casualty, out-patients' and special departments, the whole forming a self-contained Native Hospital. It is intended to erect in the future a new ward block for Indians and Asiatics to replace the existing facilities. In addition to the Nurses' Horne, described under the illustrations, the new buildings include a splendid Isolation Hospital, an up-to-the-minute block erected at the expense of the Public Health Authorities and the Transvaal Provincial Administration. The Boiler House and Service Block has been redesigned so as to allow gradual replacement of old plant by the most efficient modern boilers. The architects for the additions and new buildings for this hospital are Messrs. Stegmann, Orpen and Porter. Plumbing was carried out by Messrs. Dawson & Fraser, Pretoria. Frederick Bolton (Pty.), Ltd., Johannesburg, supplied furniture for the new Nurses' Home, and rubber flooring was supplied by The North British Rubber Co., S.A., Ltd., Johannesburg. (PWSA February 1941 Vol V No 28:8-10). [Ed note: Terms 'European', 'Native', 'Indian' and 'Asiatic' are dated but retained in the transcription to ensure the authenticity of the original text.] *** Administration Block (SAB Oct 1939:62) European Ward Block There are wards for children, ... on the top floor of the old European block. There are 10 single-cot wards for infants and four 6-cot wards for children. The wards are separated from each other and from the corridor by glazed partitions. The doors ·and the frames to ·the plate-glass partitions are of aluminium alloy. Each ward has large sliding glass-panelled doors opening out on to the balcony on the north side. The purpose of the glazed patios is to facilitate supervision and to promote a bright atmosphere for the children. The walls have a "meloglaze" finish, and in the wards the floors are carried out in teak wood-blocks. Rubber tiles have been used as a flooring medium in the corridor. (PWSA February 1941 Vol V No 28:9). (SAB Mar 1939:57) Isolation Hospital Finishes to these wards include kejaat wood-block floors, coved kejaat skirting and satin chrome bed stop-rails. The walls and ceiling are finished with "meloglaze." (PWSA February 1941 Vol V No 28:9). (SAB Oct 1939:62; SAAR Nov 1946:261-63) Nurses' Home The new building was planned around, and incorporated into, the double-storey sections of the previous structure, the remainder of which was demolished. The building has been planned so that a pleasant view may be had from all the rooms. The accommodation includes a spacious dining hall, sitting-rooms and a matron's and an assistant matron's flat, the latter three of which face north over a pleasant garden. The bed-rooms have been designed as bed sitting-rooms with built-in cupboards, writing desks and wardrobes, etc. (PWSA February 1941 Vol V No 28:8). Spaciousness is the rule in the new Nurses' Home. [The probationers'] sitting-room has a teak wood-block floor, and light cream-painted walls and joinery. At the far or east end double-swing glass-panelled doors open out on to an entrance palm court. In addition to this room, there is a sitting-room for sisters and one for nurses. (PWSA February 1941 Vol V No 28:8). (SAB Jul 1938:63 tend; PWSA Nov 1939:10-15 ill) All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon.